The world of Demigures
by TiberianSun371Alexw
Summary: It's a cross fic of more than 2 and I can only select 2 so I chose the "base world"... Actual Summary: Sota and Selesia are handicapped by a lack of information. What will they do without Metora and the Internet? Sota's Otaku memory needs a supplement, and the two need help as they face unusual parties.
1. Chapter 1

Konata

Izumi Konata was enjoying a nice day with her friends. She and the Hiiragi twins had finished a karaoke session and were enjoying some time in an ice cream parlor.

"Which would you be happier to see Kona-Chan, Haruhi or Aya Hirano?" said Tsukasa.

"I already saw Aya, so I'd have to go with the former. I wonder if she'd freak out if she saw my room" said Konata.

"Why is that?" said Tsukasa.

"I have the posters and the anime. I also have some of the early light novels" said Konata.

"I have a feeling most of us wouldn't feel thrilled to be on display for everyone to see, with our most intimate moments 24 hours a day" said Kagami.

"Then again, if I met her, one of us would be a slider. If it's her, I think she would be disappointed. If it's me, I'd tell her she already met an alien, an esper, and a time traveler. I'm a bit disappointed Kyon wasn't the slider" said Konata.

"I wish we could be celebrities like Aya" said Tsukasa. "Or maybe your whole fandom worshiping us" she said.

Suddenly, a large hole opened in the ground. Areas turned to grid and formed blue squares, some of which fell off into the hole. A white haired girl in a military uniform appeared. "I still can't control the size of the holes" she said, while rubbing her forehead.

"Oh… I'm going to call her the Military Uniform Princes or Himegunpuku" said Konata.

"And I'm still subconsciously broadcasting information for you to call me what the others call me by sight" said the girl.

"No, it's you attire. Is that a different organization's uniform. Hellsing's internal squad before they got killed in a raid wore uniforms, but they were not military" said Konata.

"What is that?" scrammed Kagami.

"Is it a dream or an actor?" said Tsukasa.

"It's a low budget film. They didn't even have enough money to rent out the whole street to prevent bystanders from getting into the shot. Or alternatively, they blew all the money on special effects"

Suddenly, the environment started developing a hollow frame square grid pattern. The squares were mostly blue, with a bit of their older colors shining through. The mystery girl fell through. Soon, the squares started crumbling and couldn't support anyone.

"How about a trip to Satte? Kyoto? Tokyo? Sendai?" said Konata as she fell.

"We are in Satte! I think…" said Kagami.

"Ahhh" scramed the trio.


	2. Chapter 2

Tanya and Visha

1942 San Bernardino, California, USA Another World

Some might have called it the Second World War, but few later would call it that and almost no one considered calling it during the war. The Empire-America Colonization conflict started with a five way fight over South America and Pacific islands. Three years later it stabilized into two factions, America and the Empire. Both had fought in the World War and others called it a sequel. The Empire chose to press early advantages into a war on its enemy's turf after a 32,000 column troop had surrendered and then massacred the Imperial 32rd Infantry Brigade after discovering it had 972 troops and no mages. Then they took the food, the supply they were low on that prompted the "surrender." A few generals were puzzled by Tanya von Degurechaff's quip that "The America I know will follow international law as long as the other side doesn't make a sneak attack, violate a truce, kill prisoners, or use ununiformed illegal combatants. Only the Allied Kingdom seems to like keeping their word" It was common knowledge among even neutral countries that while America was not the worst violator of prewar treaties, there were several previous violations without even a token attempt to stick to the letter of the law.

Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff had finished fighting for her life against seven skilled American mages. Just as she rejoined the mobile mage command group for her Army, intelligence brought bad news.

"We intercepted a communication. They will be dropping 7 of the new mysterious 15-20 kiloton hot bombs to eliminate us. Can your shields hold? You said magical shields were effective against particle radiation" said Major Viktoriya Serebryakov.

"We did studies of these barriers on the radiation phenomenon French scientist Marie Curie… sorry Allied researcher Mary Wilson found in radium, certain cesium particles, and uranium. Technically this is true, but this is our end if our antiaircraft gunners don't do work" said Tanya.

"Didn't you survive one of the mystery bomb blasts that produced similar types of particle radiation?" said Viktoriya.

"I was in the radiation radius. Shields can block the radiation, but the air around gets really hot and dangerous particles are thrown around. Know cancer? You get cancer if you inhale them. I can block convection of air, preventing heat transfer, while selectively allowing 1/3000 of the oxygen to pass through. If I let more oxygen though, the shield no longer blocks any air, including hot air, which would fry my lungs. I had to flee while encapsulated in a shield that also prevented entry of oxygen, and egress of carbon dioxide weaken with decreasing internal pressure, requiring more and more manna to force out. Normally anyone in the radiation and larger137 kPascal overpressure air blast radius are radius are doomed, and I'm the only one with the speed to escape. Four of the seven target location according to leaked radio conversation will be in the fireball radius. I'm fairly sure even if the shields block the fragments and the radiation, the force of the blast itself dooms us. Our only hope is to get out of the dodge before bomb deployment or our primitive antiaircraft missiles from allied units to actually hit" said Tanya.

"One of the bombers have released his payload" said command post. Tanya's heart sank. She briefly considered going full speed to save her own skin, but realized she could not outrun a plane, much less a blast even with the Elenium Type-95.

Suddenly, time froze. A pigeon turned towards the pair. "Were you resting on your laurels until called in three years ago?" said a voice from the pigeon.

"Being X!" screamed Tanya. She immediately shot the bird, tearing it to pieces on impact. An image of a Belgian Wood Crafting Company brand nutcracker appeared in the sky above them.

"Why did you shoot the Pidgeon?" said Viktoriya.

"Visha? You can move. Hurry!" screamed Tanya Viktoriya sensed urgency and internal distress from her commander.

"Your lack of faith is still troubling Tanya-chan" said a voice from the nutcracker in a familiar, or perhaps unfamiliar language.

"Is that Japanese? I wondered when you had the time to learn it?" said Viktoriya, following Tanya

"Hello Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov. I see you have met the apostle of your Lord. Tell me, would you like yourself and your commander to be saved, at the cost of never seeing your homeland again?" said Being X, now continuing in German.

"You are the one who put us up to this Being X! The atomic bomb is way too early. You were also the one who instigated the conflict didn't you? You keep messing with my life" said Tanya. Safety seemed so far away, even with the clock stopped.

"Where did you become knowledgeable about their 20 kiloton weapon?" said Viktoriya.

"I promised to not intervene in your life since your birth without your approval. I made the Elenium type 95 work and it is your choice to use it or not. Similarly, I didn't make them deliver the bombs here on their own soil at you or developed it for them. I just simply answered a series of yes and no questions from some Americans working for project Trinity. They chose to use this information and they were the ones who chose to use them here. So Viktoriya, if you and a few others were saved at the price of exile, would you chose it?" said Being X.

"If this is what it takes to save Tanya, I'll do it, although I prefer you just save us from this situation and let us get on with our lives. Who are you? An angel? Why does the commander seem displeased with your presence?" said Viktoriya.

"I'll grant you your prayers. Or rather, I'll let someone else grant them for you. If you manage to defeat her, I'll even give you time to escape no strings attached my love" said Being X. He switched over to Japanese "I give you permission to take them on without retaliation from me" A girl with long white hair and a military uniform appeared out from the ground, a portal that appeared to be closing. The edges were blue squares, almost pixilated.

The girl generated knives and shot them at Tanya, who dodged. She tired to avoid the fight, focusing on escape.

"He won't give you time if you don't engage me" said the mystery girl.

"Who are you? Some girl from a Dōjinshi? An American mage? Your uniform doesn't match" said Tanya. She made several shots at the girl, and the three began a dance in the sky. Tanya realized this new girl was fast and only Tanya could exceed her speed.

"I'm getting better at not leaking subconscious information. You can call me Military Uniform Princess" said the newcomer in Japanese. She attempted to use an enchanted blade at Viktoriya. Tanya pushed her subordinate out of the way and got nicked on the hip by the blade. Viktoriya used her magical bayonet against the newcomer, but lost most momentum after breaking a shield. "Magical bayonets should allow easier penetration than this" said Viktoriya. The two of them put in a combined of three clips into the newcomer. Three bullets got through the shield and hit her left hip, torso, and leg.

"Her eyes should glow when using an operation orb. What's going on?" said Viktoriya. Tanya immediately realized there was something disturbing about this observation.

"Why do you seek us?" said Tanya, starting a chant.

"You can call it a kidnapping. If you really want to come back and stay a child… er legal adult in a child's body soldier I can return you" said the girl.

"Are you the enemy of the fatherland? We have a mission to accomplish" said Tanya. Her movements became restricted to planar movement and a hand reached towards her jewel. Viktoriya felt some relief.

"If you do not cease and desist, I must bypass your protection" said Tanya. The newcomer was a bit puzzled.

"I'm not going to stop her holy relic from working. I gave my blessing for her to use as long as she follows my instructions" said Being X.

"I praise the power of the Lord and give him thanks for his blessings" said Tanya. An energized magical bullet shot out and pierced the newcomer, who cried out in pain. Tanya moved in with her bayonet and started to stab, opening a seventh wound.

Suddenly the girl's eyes turned yellow and she broke away from Tanya's grasp. "I warned her she had no chance of blocking and had to dodge" said the girl's voice, seemingly echoing.

"Damn you Being X!" screamed Tanya, perusing the newcomer towards the ground. Something wasn't right with the ground. It appeared blue. Suddenly, the new girl doubled back and gave Tanya and Viktoriya a powerful shove downward.

"I lost a bit of fine tuning. I either have to turn off the flight spell or wait 30 seconds for stabilization" said Viktoriya.

"It's the supply dump" said Tanya, looking down. The building was consumed by the blue grid and started falling apart.

"The others!" said Viktoriya, racing downwards.

"Wait, that's not solid ground" said Tanya, but felt her own flight was hard to control. Soon she realized there was nothing left of the world. She should have crashed some time ago. All that could be see was far away blue squares crumbling and falling, but nothing of the world itself was remaining.

"I remember when you were 9 you wished to see the land of the rising sun and eat there again. Enjoy" said Being X from the nutcracker.

"I'll see you soon" said the now not possessed girl. She watched the two girls fall into the enlarged portal.

"I wonder if they would like the world of the despicable gods of pleasure" said the white haired girl.

"It's really the world of eavesdroppers, but I suppose you have no way of knowing that and I have no intention of providing evidence to support this" said Being X.


	3. Chapter 3

Selesia

Selesia Upitiria was groomed to be an administrative type ruler until she was 12, as it was not known who would inherit. After this, she decided she was not going to sit back and watch fate be determined outside her own hands. She had insisted of receiving combat and magical training. She soon mastered flight, cytokinesis, and a few observation skills such as Wave Chant. Selesia's first fight was against rebel rabble, which her handgun suited well. Against opponents with magic such as some of the Avalon Brigade, she quickly learned they could form barriers. Enchanted spears or swords were typically used to break these, but this required getting close. The alternate was simply brute force.

When her retainers found Selesia had bonded with Vogelchevalier, her training switched to that. It was somewhat difficult to train because this mecha only could be operated by some chosen by its own logic, so the trainer had to use a more generic mode. The outlay was similar. But Vogelchevalier had much more power and speed. She had been involved in the north Earthmelia campaign, the recapture of three fortresses along the red river, and the Black Forest punitive expedition.

The boarders were secure, the economy was prospering, and international relations were good now that a few neighbors were restored from their usurpers. The problem was the Avalon Brigade. Their technological prowess exceeded that of any non-state faction, and it was rumored they had spies in the government.

Currently, there was another countryside raid going on. The main fortifications were spared, but bandits possibly affiliated with the Avalon Brigade were thought to have taken hostages from a local count. There were over 3,000 of them and most of them had some degree of magic prowess.

"We have to stop them. I won't let them take a hostage" said Selesia.

"There are too many of them. Besides, all we know is that there are unaccounted people for in the scattered convoy, not any confirmation of hostages. It's too dangerous" said Charon on the coms.

"Don't worry. I'll defeat them with Vogelchevalier" said Selesia. She didn't clearly remember what happened next. She did know that five minutes of her memory was gone and she was in a location that would have taken 15 minutes to get to. She remembered vaguely about a girl freeing the hostage and attacking her.

Selesia came to in the middle of a fight against a mysterious newcomer with long white hair and an out of place uniform. "You… What on Earth is that? Charon! Where are you?" said Selesia into her headset. The girl had spawned three turrets that fired some sort of self-propelled projectile. She also spawned thousands of knives, which had some sort of penetration attribute higher than the munitions. Selesia prepared to charge "You bastard!" Vogelchevalier's attack was blocked by some enhanced chain the mystery girl had.

"Yes. My master liked you too your highness Selesia Upitiria. I would love to show you the power of my Holopsion" said the mystery girl. She took out a sword and a gun and played the gun like a violin instead of shooting from the barrel, sending a large wave forward.

Selesia activated a toughening system. This would make Vogelchevalier have 3000 times the tensile strength. Electrical plates activated on the surface that hardened once current surged. "Selesia, go around the attack!" called out a voice from below. Selesia waited for the wave to hit and prepare a counterattack. The strange attack reached her in three times as long as it would have taken to get out of the dodge, but holding ground would make it easier to counterattack once this was withstood. To Selesia's surprise, the central part of Vogelchevalier dematerialized around a hole. Areas around formed a grid and blue squares, with some of the squares falling off and causing the pattern to spread. It quickly encompassed Vogelchevalier.

Selesia dropped down in a graceful landing. The mystery girl taunted her. "What nonsense. Just because I don't have Vogelchevalier" Selesia drew her magical sword. The mystery girl launched a wave of blades, which Selesia dodged in a dance, needing to deflect only a few. The voice which gave her advice screamed.

Suddently, Selesia saw a young boy in an unfamiliar attire on the nearby artificial lake. "A civilian? You get down!" said Selesia. She dived and pulled him into a barrel roll. The mysterious girl seemed to look surprised and had a look of recognition. She threw more knives. Selesia pulled the boy and dodge three waves. An odd tablet he carried hit the ground and suddenly the ground formed a series of blue squares. A hole opened up and Selesia and the boy fell in. Shortly after Selesia hit some solid dry surface, spent and disoriented.


	4. Signs of Trouble

Signs of Trouble

April 24, 2007

Aoyagi Mamoru was a black haired heavy set man in his 30s working for the National Police Agency Security Bureau of Japan. He had read an unusual report Satte of the Saitama province/prefecture had a series of unusual events.

On April 14th, a series of reports coming in about sections of Satte that power was lost. There were seven separate parties that recalled glowing blue squares late at night. Details were inconsistent, but the time and the blue squares were consistent. Shortly thereafter, reports came that there were various utilities being disconnected. Repair trucks were sent. Three large sections of the city, one containing three blocks, and three containing a trio of houses were disconnected. The power company restored power using 7 connections on each of the large sections and 1 on the others. Telephone lines were restored using the same poles. The next day, water was being reconnected.

The power company had noticed something was not quite right. The repair positions did not completely match Tokyo Electric's own grid maps. In addition, there appeared to be a much bigger drain than normal.

The morning of April 15th brought more surprises. Seven banks reported unauthorized access to their information from parties pretending to be local branches contacting them. A moderate sum of money was transferred to Satte with improper authorization.

Several policemen had made the observations that the severed portions of Satte used to be run down and abandoned. They were replaced with vibrant communities, and Ryoo High School which had been abandoned due to the shrinking population not only appeared to be running, but it was connected to grid power. The police also reported that imposters had appeared to access local precinct computer terminals. One of the policemen later identified as an imposter showed up onto site, appeared to do his job, filed some reports, and then complained about not being able to login. He then said he would use supervisor Amatsaku's login, since he was filing away digital information on a common directory anyways and he remembered her login information that was always left on the desk. Said supervisor had been retired and did not recall meeting the imposter. The login should have been revoked upon retirement, but the IT department obviously was slow.

On April 17th the Security Bureau then noticed occupants of Satte were using authentic looking identification documentation, but the digital records did record their existence. Now it was not completely unknown for even a country as advanced as Japan to simply forget to record about one of its citizens until he or she applied for something that needed documentation. For it to happen to multiple people in the same city was exceedingly unlikely. The bureau suspected there was an illegal immigration scam, although local police had rebutted claiming the locals were quintessentially Japanese. While anyone could learn and adopt another's culture, the idea that more than a hundred in the same geographical location would bother to seemed unlikely. The same day, the cable company reported many unauthorized access to its cables after restoring connection in Satte. It also received complaints from that area about loss of something called "internet access" while the telecommunications companies noted that numbers not in use were successfully making calls from that region.

Mamoru made his trip to Satte. According to his briefing, there were several residents without any records of existence being questions. 32 self-identified as policemen, but their precincts did not recognize their employment. One was a family member of a policewoman. The local police were doing the questioning. Annoyingly, the local police refused to fax information to the Bureau, insisting on actual men to be sent. The interrogation was voluntary and the witnesses, or whatever they were, could leave any time.

As he arrived, a young blond policeman handed over a set of DVDs. "Aoyagi-dono, have seen this before?"

"An anime? Lucky Star? I watched three episodes with my daughter" said Mamoru.

"Well, we do have something strange to show you. We have our guest with a few people interviewing her. We tracked down the problem to 3018 inhabited houses, several restaurants, a mall, a few arcades, a school, a few warehouses, and even a solar farm just at the edge of the town. None of the town's unregistered residents know of anything wrong except that they are having documentation problems. Even the false police don't know they are not recognized as policemen and we have them bogus tasks to keep them occupied until this set of interviews. The original residents know a bit more. In addition to our officers, we have Yoshimizu Kagami, Machida Touko, and Hirano Ayo from Kyoto Animation asking one witness some questions" said the officer.

"An animation team? What would this have to do with the unexplained renovation of Satte, false bank transaction authorizations that the banks can't stop, and the documentation problem?" said Mamoru.

"I think a look at the relative of the false policewoman will give away what Yoshimizu-sensei and the Kyoto team have to do with this" said the local officer.

Another man came by. "Fujimori-sempai, we just got word from the Americans. Patricia Martin, Cornelia Martin, Mary Martin, and Harold Martin are not in the SSA database. The SS numbers given all apply to numbers that were not assigned to living people for at least 3 decades. The family that exists in the States who were supposed to verify their identity does not appear to exist. The company Harold claimed to have worked for has no record of him. The properties they claim to own are listed as the owners unknown, although their physical copies of the deeds appear to be appropriate for the municipalities they were in, although that brings in the question of why illegal immigrants with no citizenship or visa who no right to exist in United States of America own any real estate. Some have been squatted on for at least 3 years. In short, the Martins might as well not exist. Since the physical copies of the deeds appear to be in order, they might be able to get the houses, but they wouldn't be any consolation to these wannabe Americans who have no proof of their right to set foot there" said the man.

"Thank you" said officer Fujimori. He turned to Mamoru. "Here you go"

"Patorishia Martian? That sounds familiar" said Mamoru.

Mamoru entered a questioning room. Sitting in a chair was a girl he estimated to be 13 years old. Her face was rounded and her skin seemed pale. The witness had a rounded face. Mamoru estimated her height to be around 140 cm, although there wasn't anything useful for reference. He was no more than 22 cm off, he was sure of that much for sure, and probably not more than 7 cm off. Her blue hair reached her knees before extending beyond Mamoru's line of sight. It was an unusual color, but Mamoru did hear of a girl in Singapore with natural purple hair, so this wasn't out of the realm of possibility, although for Japanese it seemed less likely. Ethnic Yamato who were not cross breeding were usually black haired, although brown, red, blond, and white were within the realm of possibilities.

Suddenly, something registered into his mind. Mamoru guessed the girl in front of him was 18, despite her height, face, and chest suggesting otherwise.

"I'm happy to answer questions, especially among those whom I am great fans of. However, I can see that most of you are dodging questions about recent events, other than that we have a documents problem. Otou-san handles the taxes, I'm sure the papers you need are at his home" said the blue haired girl.

"Konata-chan" said Mamoru.

"How familiar. I know you're my elder, but that's a bit much. It should be Izumi Konata-san or perhaps Izumi Konata-kun since you are older. Or perhaps you don't mind me calling you Aoyagi Mamoru-chan?" said Konata.

"Konata-kun, like the others before you I have many questions for you. If you cooperate, you can spend three more hours with Ayo" said Mamoru.

"You really are curious? It's obvious you're trying hard. Well, I don't really have anything to hide, just I don't think I can satisfy your curiosity. When is the internet going to be up again?"

"I can say with some safety the answer to that question is never" said Mamoru. Konata looked worried. "You might have some bigger problems to work out. Let's try to find the source of your documentation problem"


	5. Tanya in Japan

Tanya in Japan

April 7, 2014 Japan

Tanya von Degurechaff and Viktoriya Serebryakov were in free fall for a short duration. A blue grid appeared, showing contours but not colors. An analogy might be that one would see paper or a sign if it were there, but not the words written on it, unless it was embossed instead of merely written. Blue disappeared, revealing normal colors.

Viktoriya flew in an uncontrolled pattern with loops and hit the ground relatively hard. Tanya, ever the graceful flyer even before Elenium-95, made an awkward 1170 degree turn and landed on her knees.

"Visha! Are you all right?" said Tanya, reaching her hand out.

"Dizzy, but fine. What about the others?" said Viktoriya.

"The ammo dump is nearby, but it appears it suffered blunt trauma" said Tanya. She did some visualization with her Operation Orb, taking into account the material of the dump. It looked like it had suffered 45 kph collisions with the ground. Of course, her assumptions on the building materials could be wrong, but the image she saw in the Operation Orb interface matched her observations. "As for our other allies, I can't find them on the radio" The two of them gingerly approached the ammo dump.

"Corporal Hans Guderian…" said Viktoriya. A blond young man in his 20s looked like he had broken his legs and had some lacerations from stuff thrown around the dump. There were some creates that were secured to the wall. A black haired woman in her 30s as tall as a typical man and an old red haired giant in his 60s were behind there, also unconscious. "Corporals Mary Watters and Cornelius Traubel" she said softly.

"It looks like they have concussions, and we don't have the knowledge to patch them up" said Tanya. "I don't know if the supply dump contains any contact explosives, we should take them out and move them to someplace safe. The mana concentration seems low here, similar to the artificial chambers, where it is undetectable. All mana regenerated would have to come from our diets instead of being supplemented by environmental fields, so keep flying to a minimum. Keep an eye on the explosives and activate your shield if they go haywire. Mages have trouble reacting to supersonic threats"

"Let's see here. Plenty of assault rifle ammunition, enchanted and non-enchanted. High explosive anti-tank warheads and some rocket launchers. Plenty of rifles. We have 7 spare Mercury Boot Model flight assistors. And there is side arm ammunition. Looks like seven days of food, our other supplies aren't here. We have gas masks and gas tanks. I think their use of the atomic bomb against a child soldier should have justified us retaliating with nerve gas to be honest. Ah, I'm not a child anymore. As an officer, I need to be close to the front lines and it just so happened we lost territory turning 'close' into 'at.'" said Tanya

"It's a bit unusual isn't it? It looks like the ammo dump and some of its surroundings were thrown directly onto the ground here" said Viktoriya. Now that Tanya thought about their new surroundings, the terrain was certainly different. The different pieces of land didn't stick out too much until one looked at where they met, where the contrast was obvious. Tanya used a shovel to remove some dirt. Depending on the region, there was 3 cm to 100 cm of the soil and gravel of their old surroundings sitting on their new surroundings.

"Save mana by using it to make assisted jumps instead of flying" said Tanya. She made a 104.1 meter jump forward, using mana to counteract gravity and some to directly provide thrust. "We need to get to our own lines"

"General, the compass and the sunset don't match" said Viktoriya. Tanya looked at her magnetic compass. Something was off. "Did we change locations?"

"We were thrown some distance down. We could have gone anywhere" said Tanya. She lowered her voice. "Damn you Being X"

"Huh?" said Visha.

"Never mind Major Serebryakov" said Tanya. The two of them packed supplies and uniforms. They made her way towards a town.

...

Tanya noticed something odd immediately. The architecture had some semblance to an America, but a different one. Rather than the United States of America that had violated wartime treaties in the World War, massacred a brigade in a colonial war after surrendering to it, and detonated multiple atomic bombs to kill her, they resembled the architecture of the America she knew in her past life, of people who no longer had any meaning to her.

They bypassed a suburban center, heading east following some rail lines. The rail lines looked strange to Viktoriya, but they only looked wrong to Tanya. She had seen similar bullet train technology before, but again they no longer had any meaning. From far away, some of the architecture saw seemed to resemble Japanese style villages. As they approached a road sign, Tanya was shocked.

"Hiragana… Japanese! We're in Japan. Oh, I guess it's the Akitsushima Imperium now. Japan is merely a geographical term. We were thrown far. I guess that's why the compass didn't match with the sunset. This would explain a lot" said Tanya. Technological development had happened since the 1920s. With a gross oversimplification, there are two levels a society has, what is in general use and the maximum it can achieve. The general use is of what can be mass produced while usually only a minority ever gets more. The early cars were only used by the rich, but they eventually came into general use. Passenger planes came into general use. Private jets on the other hand, probably could never be mass produced. By 1942, the mass produced technological base was very similar to what it was in her old world.

However in the Allied Kingdom, the Empire, and Akitsushima Imperium there were production of many goods. Better Cathode Ray Tube screens. There were LaserDisk video storages, and for a bit lower quality but still high, magnetic tapes. The basic computers used vacuum tubes, but silicon based processors were actually possible. There were solid state electronic computers, although there was no standardization in machine code from one company to another, possibly because each machine was custom made. In fact, 3015 industrial silicon computers existed at the beginning of the war, but there was no standardization and manipulating small objects tended to create lots of "rejects." Charles X showed Tanya a scientific calculator.

"You see, they have to recoup their costs even on the failed parts. This handheld device that can calculate arithmetic, do sine functions, and more took thousands of people and cost more than what you made last decade. My brother has strange ideas for gifts" he said.

There were also primitive car phones. Which were entirely worthless. Aside from costing a fortune to produce one for a luxury car, there wasn't any tower coverage. So some rich people with nothing better to do made towers and let their phone companies use them for free. The tower components themselves were difficult to make with the best engineering of the time, so the usual "make a million parts and throw out the rejects" continued. There was a tower in Londinium, one in Berun, one in Tokyo, and a dozen or so in various backwater countryside areas. The rich often had centralized air conditioning for their entire mansions.

In short, pretty much all of society including Tanya herself were similar to what people in her old world in 1940s would have had, with the resources of a country, one could get what rich people in her old world would have had in the late 1970s.

The Akitsushima Imperium looked oddly high-tech. Tanya was there just three years before in 1939, but this looked really improved. The cars were no longer boxy. "Is that a cell phone I see in that passenger's hand?" said Tanya.

"Cell phone?" said Viktoriya.

"Ah I used a literal translation 'Zelle Telephon,' but I don't know the German word for it. Imagine a radio fused with a telephone. Or you know those rich people who have a phone in their car that almost can never receive calls except in certain areas? Well imagine one that you can put in your backpack" said Tanya.

"Rechargeable batteries must be getting better" said Viktoriya.

"Well, if you want to pay an arm and a leg, you can get good ones. Otherwise, you get what I would expect for 1942. Likewise, you can get a primitive digital computer. It would cost you more than an analog one. And you could argue that money might be better spent buying all the real estate of Frankfurt, charging rent for it, and having enough money left over to buy a cruise liner company to be able to cruise to any place you want" snarked Tanya.

They had arrived at a town center, marveling at the technology. "Is this a land of plenty?" said Viktoriya.

"I'd say so. I don't even know why they need to be militaristic" said Tanya. Her old Japan, a meaningless place now, was able to achieve so much after dropping that imperialism nonsense. One would call her cruel, but she'd say 300,000 deaths from the atomic bombs were put to good use getting that ideology out of the Japanese minds so they could put their creative juices and human resources to more productive things. In other words, from a consequentialist perspective, that was a good thing. And, none of pre-Tanya's family had to suffer anyways, not that they matter to her anymore. Given the Akitsushima Imperium advanced so much in the three years since Tanya saw it, she thought it was silly they had ideas for the outside world.

"Solid state electronic desk top computers" said Tanya looking into a few stores. "Is that a Plasma Screen Television? And they're using it to broadcast advertisements?" said Tanya, looking at an electronic billboard. Clearly, these people had better things to do with their time than imperialism. In three years, decades worth of technological development occurred. The westernization reforms seemed to have slipped backwards, as there was less Romaji and more Hiragana and Kanji compared to what she saw three years before, with the old writing systems then viewed as relics.

A man in a causal ware passed by them. "Excuse me, but do you know where the Empire's consulate is?" said Tanya.

"I don't have the faintest idea what you are talking about. Be gone ojou-chan" said the man. Tanya frowned. She tried three more times with no luck. She tried switching from the English pronunciation of "Empire" (the official renunciation since the Hapsburg who came up with it was an anglophile and the Empire also was trying to get recognition since literally no nation in the world recognized its right to exist) to the Japanese one. Tanya tried this modification on three more people, they had some chains of conversation but never heard about such consulate and one person said the country didn't exist. Tanya wasn't surprised given that the Empire was only known and called by its official pronunciation outside Europe, so a local unfamiliar with English might not make the connection.

"How do you know the local language? I heard in War College you went to their embassy a few times and talked to them, but I don't think you could master a language that quickly" said Viktoriya.

"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you" said Tanya.

"Did the Lord make you born with that knowledge?" said Viktoriya.

"I wouldn't dispute that. From a certain point of view, it's a few days from being true" said Tanya. Being X was almost certainly not the Lord. If he some was, which Tanya was sure he wasn't, then it's almost true. Tanya was reincarnated as an infant, not quite at birth.

"I think our problem might be that we are wearing flight gear in a country at peace, along with our weapons, this is why everyone is giving us looks. Let's change to dress uniforms and try the best to hide the rifles on the backpacks" said Tanya.

...

Three hours later and after trying several "help me" locations for clueless foreigners, Tanya got the impression that this town just didn't get that much tourists. "OK, new plan. We get funds and then head over to the capital" said Tanya.

"And how would we do that?" said Viktoriya.

"Um… I guess odd jobs. Or maybe begging. Yeah…" said Tanya. Like the propaganda video, she was going to have to swallow her pride. It seems the locals are deliberately unhelpful to strangers with no money, even after they are no longer geared for war. Well, mostly. The rifles on their backpacks were hidden by an optical spell Tanya cast, but it was difficult to match with their motions so rifle shaped distortions might have appeared at times.

...

The two of them got a bit more funds than Tanya expected. "Hm, seems they ditched the Ryo and went back to the Yen" said Tanya looking at the bill. "The faces are oddly familiar. They almost remind me of something from a long time ago, from a forgotten place" said Tanya.

"Where? Who were those people?" said Viktoriya.

"Major Serebryakov, it doesn't matter. We can never visit that place and all those people are dead to me anyways" said Tanya, without batting an eye. In many aspects, her new life had many perks while she would never admit it to Being X. There was the annoying fact that her muscle memory was sued to a larger build and reach that she still hadn't adapted to by the time she was Warrant Officier. Still, Tanya enjoyed praised for her work in both lives, but it was much more present here. Even discounting the public hero thing, her superiors in the Empire always loved her, possible because she made a larger difference in the Empire than the HR manager ever did for the Takeda Group's companies… which one in the group did she once work for again? There were many years of peace and during this time it was merely drilling and easy paperwork for normal officers. For Tanya, there were a few additional tasks to be done as she was in the public eye, but they weren't difficult or humiliating. Another reason all those people were dead to Tanya was… well she was never going to see any of them again. There was also the fact that the pre-Tanya salaryman never had strong emotional attachments to them anyways. This initially carried over to Tanya's current life, although she isn't sure how much it applies anymore. In any event, the most important person didn't change: herself.

"Hey girls! Want a free meal?" said a blond teenaged boy.

"Can we turn down a free meal?" said Viktoriya.

"Considering the situation is ambiguous and we could be terminated as illegal immigrants in the worst case scenario, I'd say we should accept. If we run out of supplies and have to resort to stealing, we'll attract unwanted attention. If we walked into a police station now not as criminals but as lost people, we would be sent home, but we could cause an international incident as war combatants in a neutral country. This can be interpreted as a territorial incursion. We need to get to an embassy here they can't claim that. Most likely, that wouldn't happen because the countries aren't on bad terms, but you never know" said Tanya.

"We can accept, but be warned we aren't even staying in town. We can't give contact information. And no, this isn't a date which comes with a kiss" said Tanya in Japanese.

"That's OK. I don't have anything better to do anyways" said the boy. "I'm Ryou"

The trio got into a ramen shop. Tanya ordered miso ramen. The Ryou told them about the past week in his day to day life. Tanya was impressed with how he casually mentioned using objects as granted when so many people in the world can't afford even one of the luxuries. He then mentioned his girlfriend dying a few months ago. Tanya couldn't help but notice Ryou's eyes were staring at Viktoryia's breasts, while Viktoriya didn't seem to notice. Ryou then asked for their story.

"Well, it's kind of complicated. We're from a country that's at war right now. Viktoriya doesn't speak Japanese" said Tanya.

"Shouldn't you be fighting? I see you look like soldiers" said Ryou with a laugh.

"We're not sure how we got here" said Tanya. Ryou asked more questions and he looked more amused every minute.

"Here is some money for a train to Tokyo. I wish you luck at whatever convention" said Ryou. Tanya took the cash, surprised Ryou didn't grip her small hand.

"What is this, the food is good" said Viktoriya in German.

"It's ramen Major Serebryakov" said Tanya in the same language. She then saw a calendar in the restaurant, but something was wrong. 2013? "Hey Ryou, is that calendar correct?" said Tanya.

"What? Oh no it's wrong. Megu-chan, the calendar!" said Ryou. Tanya's puzzlement disappeared.

A red haired worker appeared. She took down the calendar. Megumi then put one up and marked off days "I don't know how this happened. We're supposed to mark off each day" she said.

"April 8, 2014" said Tanya choking on a fountain drink. Suddenly she had an awful feeling about why the technological base was different. Seeing as they came here after an encounter with Being X, this wasn't good at all.

...

"Major Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov… Viktoriya … have you heard of the story of Rip Van Winkle? It's an American story but it's popular in the Allied Kingdom" said Tanya. Viktoriya shook her head. Tanya went through the story. "So you see Viktoriya, we're likely legally dead. We can't just go back to the Empire and resume the war. It will take time for us to be reinstated as alive and it will take time for us to prove out identities" said Tanya. The situation was grim. Their ranks would go with where their lives supposedly were. After all, they had been missing for 70 years after multiple weapons of mass destruction were used on them simultaneously. All their assets must have gone to next of kin. Their tactics and skills they learned were changed by the years, so their experience was rendered obsolete. Maybe they might be eligible for military pensions for all they did for the Empire, but she didn't know if that applied to the dead who turned out to be alive. Viktoriya listened in somber silence. A soldier's mindset reminded her to focus on the immediate issue and then worry about the implications later.

"To have a chance of getting back, we need to go to Tokyo. The embassy might charge us a paper processing fee to look into our backgrounds since our story isn't likely to be accepted at face value, so we still need more funds. We can save them by not using the bullet train" said Tanya.

"Can you show me what this high tech train looks like? You seem to know what it is" said Viktoriya.

"Sure, naturally one would be curious" said Tanya. They went to a station and Tanya talked about the train system and their speeds.

"Should we help that little girl?" said Viktoriya. Tanya turned and saw a clueless looking dark haired girl with a school uniform and name tag. She was about 11 and her hair reached her knees. Tanya wanted to say no and it would be a waste of time while stranded in a country while the two of them were legally dead. Tanya took a look at Viktoriya's face and gave a sigh.

"Sure… Viktoriya" said Tanya in German. Tanya turned to little girl. "Takeda Miyuki?" said Tanya looking at the name tag. She was the same name and a similar look to a person who was dead to Tanya. A normal person would have elicited some feeling from seeing someone who had great physical similarity to a lost one. However, Tanya was not a normal person, this was obviously not the same person but a lookalike, and she didn't have that much attachment to the original in the first place.

"That's an odd surname" said Viktoriya.

"In Japanese, surnames come first, unless it is a Western Surname, in which case it comes in whatever order the native language has it in, usually last" said Tanya in German. "Miyuki? Is there anything wrong" said Tanya in Japanese.

"Onee-chan, you're being too familiar" said Miyuki.

"You are my junior. Miyuki-chan? Takeda Miyuki-kun? Takeda-kun? Is that better?" said Tanya.

"Yeah. I slept on the train and got off three stops too late" said Miyuki.

"Where do you live?" said Tanya.

"Tokyo" said Miyuki.

"She's a lost girl and she's going where we are going. We can't afford to give money for train tickets. Do you want to bring her along?" said Tanya in German. Viktoriya nodded. "Do you want to fly to Tokyo?" said Tanya in Japanese.

"Sure" said Miyuki.

"Hold on" said Tanya. This was going to be difficult. Unlike the Republican horse like flight assistor, the Mercury Boot Model wasn't very tolerant of extra weight. It didn't fail as a flight gear and it still allowed smooth control. The problem was that there were two parts of flight. One part of the spell could reduce gravity's strength to 1/3000. The other was thrust. Tanya wouldn't be able to expend the first part to a passenger unless the passage could fit in a backpack. Magic was funny sometimes. So Tanya would need to provide constant thrust.

...

"Wee!" said Takeda Miyuki. "I feel the wind in my hair!"

Tanya had some difficulties with the wind. Early in the war, some mages tried to break the wind using weak cheap magical shields that couldn't be used against solids, but this prevented them from flying at top speed if they lost their concentration. The goggles on the other hand were simply uncomfortable to wear, which is why Tanya often opted to do the same. It hurt her nose bridge. Eventually she used pads to soften that area. Seeing an un-goggled ally nearly not make it home due to only being able to fly in a straight line while keeping the shield up convinced Tanya her improvisation with the flight goggles were preferable to ditching them.

Unfortunately, the effective range was 3 cm away from her body. A weak shield could be extended beyond this just like a normal magical shield used for defense, however the mana drain would be comparable to a normal shield anyways. There were certain "levels" of shields that were efficient and being slightly larger or more encompassing made the many drain almost to the next level. This meant shielding her passage from the wind was comparable to attempting to shield them from bullets continuously. Mages can't keep strong shields up continuously, they need to react and use them on a need basis, which is why supersonic rounds are so deadly to an inattentive mage who isn't looking.

The solution was to give Miyuki her flight goggles while using the wind breaker level shield on herself as she did at the beginning of the war. Their passenger kept asking questions about their profession.

"That's so cool. I mean, I knew World War One never happened the way the anime shown it, I mean it was fiction and history obviously isn't accurate there and the countries aren't even real, but I didn't know they portrayed magic the way it" said Miyuki. There was only one reason wars needed to be numbered. If there were more of them. For all of Tanya's efforts, it seemed the America-Empire colonial war did turn from a colonial dispute to a total war between the two countries on American soil to a world war. Actually, who was stupid enough to use nukes on your own soil anyways?

"You like anime?" said Tanya in Japanese.

"Oh, yes I love them! I went from 3 episodes a week on average to 22 episodes a week. I guess that's around the time otou-san was killed. I follow three new anime every season, the rest are either re watching or some of the old ones. Space Martian Successor Nadesico, Naruto, Hataraku Maou-Sama, Lucky Star, Last Exile…" said Miyuki.

"Honestly, this girl reminds me of my old daughter. Similar appearances, same name, and similar hobbies. Superficially the personality is the same, although I don't really know this namesake girl all that well to make a deeper comment" said Tanya.

"You adopted a child too?" said Viktoriya, thinking of her own relative she took in as a son. She was never going to see Lieutenant Colonel Warren Grantz again, or her relative Cornelius who she raised as her own. Now they were lost to time.

"Ah? Did I say that out loud? It doesn't matter, I don't have a child. Don't think about it too much, that was a meaningless statement" said Tanya. Sometime during her first tour of the Rhine front, her few times she talked to herself out loud was no longer in Japanese but in German. "Damn you Being X" she said in a lowered voice. She said the same thing when she noticed this change in War College.

"What is she talking about?" said Viktoriya.

"Anime… in Japanese it refers to animation. Basically cartoons. In Western culture it specifically means animation made by the people of Japan, err Akitsushima Imperium, speaking in Japanese. Inspired by Walk Disney… ah I'm not sure who it was inspired by this time" said Tanya in German.

"Do you like it?" said Viktoriya.

"Maybe a bit. It's certainly some form of entertainment" said Tanya. She remembered in her past life passing time. Most of the pre Tanya salaryman's efforts outside work were to improve his efficiency at work. One example was studying psychology. He also learned basic information about what the office drones needed to do so it would be easier to asses new hire's skills. However, he also did enjoy watching a good movie. Enjoying a quiet ride in the countryside was nice. Climbing mountains and seeing nature occupied a good minority of the "not for work" time. He enjoyed the company of his co-workers at drinking parties, although this had little to do with emotional attachment to them. The attachment in his view was simple. There were three components to it. One, it was enjoyable to spend time together. Two, "you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back" reciprocity. Three, they were all good human resources and contributors to e company. However, he knew that others considered "friends" more than simply enjoying time with each other but also an intrinsic emotional attachment.

As for video games and anime, this certainly took a backseat, but some of them did have their charms. They were less entertaining that baseball, but more entertaining than association football, American football (who named that?), or basketball. There were several objectives in acquisition of wealth. There is security. The idea of being able to eat whenever and whatever you want. It is appealing to have someone else do menial work while one is free to earn more money or perhaps just relax. Once income becomes sufficiently high, it is possible to spend large amounts of time for enjoyment.

"I think I'm running out of mana" said Viktoriya.

"No wonder. We were in constant combat for seven days, even a night's rest and two meals weren't going to replenish you. We might as well go to the ground. Carrying this much weight of an extra passenger who isn't concentrated into a small space like a tank or drum would be makes this somewhat difficult. It might be hard to avoid a jet that appeared through the clouds. I don't know if they regulated jets when they were invented, or if they were made sicne I haven't seen one yet" said Tanya in German. The trio descended to ground level and stared stationary long jumps assisted by magic providing horizontal thrust.

"And this season there is Elemental Symphony of Vogelchevalier. My favorite protagonist of this season! I love Selesia. Well, you could argue the second favorite, but I really don't count an anime that was released earlier that still has episodes running as 'this season.' Likewise, you're cheating when you say include the top five anime of this season and one of them is '2nd season of whatever…" said Takeda Miyuki.

"Takeda -kun you're a motor mouth like her too aren't you" said Tanya in Japanese.

"Like who?" said Miyuki.

"Someone who's dead to me and you would never care, unless you feel attachment to people who look like you" said Tanya.

"Why did we stop flying?" said Miyuki.

"Mana problems. Looks like we're about 1/8 of the way there" said Tanya.

"Hey onee-chan, will I look as cute as you when I grow up?" said Miyuki.

"Considering we have two different hair colors… we certainly won't be the same. Is there a boy you have in mind?" said Tanya.

"No, I just want to be cute. Some of my classmates have… odd thoughts. Maybe it's like Love Hina… hey what bird is that?" said Miyuki.

"I missed it. We're looking in different directions, you to our left and me forward. Your attention span is typical of that of an elementary school aged kid. You wouldn't have survived in my shoes for long" said Tanya.

"Hey onee-chan, what's your name?" said Miyuki.

"Tanya von Degurechaff. No longer general I guess" said Tanya. Takeda Miyuki squealed and hugged Tanya harder.

"Tanya! Well, I know you're not the real thing. I'm one of your fans. I love you! I love you! I love you! 'O Saints, let us believe in the grace of our Lord, for we who knew not of fear. Lament not of our fate, for the Lord hath not forsaken us! At the distant end of our journey, we shall reach the Promised Land' then Boom! And then there is the ironic twist when you think about Tanya's background" said Miyuki.

"Viktoriya, did you tell others my speeches in the Rhine?" said Tanya in German.

"I told others how pious you were and your prayers to the lord, but never the specific contents" said Viktoriya.

"Hmmm, maybe someone else did. The 203rd didn't exist back then. That line was an accurate Japanese translation of what I said more than a decade ago" said Tanya. She turned to Miyuki "Man, she is a motormouth"

"She certainly seems to be attached to you" said Viktoriya.

"I don't understand either. I'm the hero of another country. Even if my exploits became legend over seven decades, we aren't in the Empire, so she shouldn't have been raised to think of me highly. Also the 'you're not the real thing' suggests she sees me more of a relative of the one she's fangirling about, which is a bit more sensible to believe than me being alive after all these years when I was last seen in an atomic bomb explosion" said Tanya in German.

"I didn't know my exploits were known in Akitsushima Imperium" said Tanya in Japanese. Well, "Imperium" was in English/Latin, but that was for the same reason "Empire" was even though the mother tongues didn't include the words in that way.

"Huh? Tanya onee-chan, you know we're in Japan" said Miyuki.

"Huh. Hey Viktoriya, this place is Japan again. It was renamed three decades after the Oda Shogunate stepped aside peacefully, but now they reverted to their old name" said Tanya in German.

"Like Berun isn't it? It was once Berlin, then it was named Hapsburg, and now it's Berun" said Viktoriya.

"More than 3000 municipalities named Hapsburg. Without zip codes, the mail must have been a nightmare" said Tanya.

"What were our ancestors thinking?" said Viktoriya.

"Well, Bob I felt like naming a city after himself. But the problem was that it would have been 'Bobsville,' 'Bobstown' 'Bobberg' or 'Bobsberg.' So he said he would use his family name von 'Hapsburg'. It was then pointed out that three cities in Austria, one in Hungary, and three in Croatia were already named that by cadet branch members of the family, but due to slow communications none of them realized each other did it. By Bob I, they did know. And he was like 'Screw it, we're renaming this city I saved from the Turkman.' Eventually the Prussian and von Hapsburg lines merged and Berlin was renamed. And after a while we all know how much problem having a bunch of cities with the same name but not numbering them causes since there was a postal system but no zip codes" said Tanya in German.

"Takeda-kun how are school and your friends?" said Tanya in Japanese, attempting to bring the subject away from herself. She would have plenty of time to see her legacy on history. Thanks to the enemy's surprising willingness to nuke their own towns to take out one combatant, and failing a few times despite having planes that can outrun Tanya, she was not only a hero, but the first enemy combatant, hero or not, to be killed by an atomic bomb.

Tanya smiled. On one hand, the civilians killed were a waste of human resources. On the other hand, she now would get the opportunity to see (now that decades have past) what the Americans thought about their first atomic bomb only killing their own people. The bomb had one target that could move slower than their bomber and yet they never even bothered to make visual confirmation that the target would move in a straight line for 20 minutes, which as it turned out Tanya didn't. Her past self would have deemed the human resources wasted by the action of the first drop outweighed getting a few smiles for himself, especially if not wasting would not hurt his own position. Tanya, of course, didn't care about the American civilians. She was long past average utilitarianism which she once combined with considerable egotism and selfishness. Sometime ago, this was lost. A smile of hers was worth more than a million foreign civilians, although in this case it was probably tens of thousands.

Miyuki name dropped a blond girl named Megumi, a blond girl named Chitose, a black haired girl named Hinata, a blond haired boy named Naruto, a black haired boy three years older named Takeo, a black haired boy one year older named Satoru, and a brown haired boy one year younger named Aoi. Tanya was a bit surprised. She thought the idea of similar people, and similar history was done with itself. By the 1700s, few of the European monarchs in her new world matched her old, and few had one to one parallels. Napoleon Bonaparte came out of nowhere, but before making the world much like her old one, he made peace with the Hapsburgs on generous terms and started to build Paris, or Bonaparte, now Parisee. Unfortunately, the Bonaparte peace couldn't last much beyond his life. The last thing she expected was a girl, a nobody rather than a ruler, to have the same name, similar appearance, and identically named friends.

...

After making a bunch of "flight assist" jumps to Tokyo, Miyuki lead them to her house. "We have the entire seventh floor to ourselves" she said pointing to a building. "Can you take me to there directly? I think my mom will be surprised if I bypass the front door"

"What do you think Viktoriya? She wants us to take her up there" said Tanya in German.

"It wouldn't hurt would it?" said Viktoriya.

"Sigh. Hold tight Takeda-kun" said Tanya. She flew to the seventh and dropped her Miyuki off.

"Wait here onee-chan!" Miyuki went inside. She came out with chocolates.

"Choco!" said Viktoriya.

"They look like fancy expensive kinds too. Save it for later" said Tanya. The two of them put the candy in their backpacks.

"Onee-chan and onee-chan, will I see you again?" said Miyuki.

"I'll be blunt. You got rescued by two strangers who came to Tokyo to do one thing and your odds of seeing us again are exactly what you would expect from that situation" said Tanya in Japanese.

"Bye! I'm so excited just to meet you" said Miyuki.

"That expression on her face is so cute" said Viktoriya.

"I agree with that" said Tanya. However, the importance of cute didn't mean too much for Tanya. Is it aesthetically pleasing? Yes, just as people prefer looking at green lawns over barren dirt.

The two mages flew off. "Ok Viktoriya, this is our mission. We need to get identified by the embassy. After that, we can send a rescue for our fallen comrades, in the unlikely event those concussions were not fatal. Going into the hospital system without being covered by the national insurance system would not be advisable. I don't know how it works in this future, but they probably don't take concussed illegal immigrants too kindly, so getting our identities re-instated so we can reinstate the poor souls who happened to be at the ammo dump. Then our government can probably pay that"

...

April 9, 2014

Outside of the Tokyo metropolis, Tanya and Viktoriya got an unusual offer. A group of competitors were doing a Free Running style competition, a variation of Le Parkour only with more emphasis on style than oneness with the surrounding, the goal was to complete the challenge by hitting 32 checkpoints in order and it was done relay style. Some checkpoints were to be used to change teammates. All teammates went through 3 relay legs, except the first person did 4. Many people paid to watch them. There was a prize money pool with 13/23 to 1st place, 4/23 to 2nd place, 3/23 to 3rd place and 1/23 to the rest. One group was missing members and asked the two to join out of desperation.

"You see what we are wearing right? See the Orb? I think this makes the contest too easy. Is flying acceptable?" said Tanya in Japanese, flaunting her Operation Orb.

"I'm quite sure flying is against the rules, but wall jumping and long jumping aren't" said the man with a laugh. Tanya and Viktoriya entered in to fill the missing slots, with 5 others as teammates. Their combined distance was about 1/8 of the total distance to be covered from start to finish.

"Do anything short of flying. That means no magical vectors more than 8.130 degrees above horizontal. Try to show off how badly outclassed non mages are" said Tanya in German. She gave them a fair warning.

The two of them reached their designated positions. When the baton reached Tanya, she leaped off. She made backflips and jumped between two adjacent buildings that the others used the external staircase to chain height. Soon she reached Viktoriya.

"It's almost like cheating" said Viktoriya.

"Our Operations Orbs aren't hidden and I even drew attention to them" said Tanya, passing the baton.

Viktoriya elicited some oohs and ahhs from the crowd. Tanya decided to use magic instead of the train to reach her next checkpoint where a teammate would pass the baton. She watched Viktoriya jump between ledges of two buildings in an alley, switching off and doing 7 wall jumps.

"It's a shame the boobs don't bounce the way they do in a Studio Gainax Anime" said a spectator. Honestly, men were wolves, and Tanya knew better than any biological female did. This is how breasts in clothing that don't have those oddly low necklines behave. And there weren't any differences between the Imperial male and female dress uniforms. For some reason, it was common in Tanya's old world for girls' t-shirts to sometimes have necklines 3 cm or so lower than their male counterparts. This didn't expose the breasts, but did show some skin. Actually, Tanya think she might have seen such attire once the day before. It was odd though that a studio called themselves that as she believed the term originated as slang for 'giant.'

After the whole race, their team won first place. This wasn't surprising since Tanya and Viktoriya completed their legs in a seventh as much time as their non-mage counterparts. What was surprising was that of the legs the other five completed, the cumulative speed was shortest compared to the other teams' in the same location. "Looks like they would have won without us" said Tanya. They collected the prize money and then walked away. Some of the already known competitors were singing some autographs.

...

The two of them sat down at a café and Tanya delighted in showing Viktoriya some of what the modern world had to offer. She found it slightly odd that pretty much everything was familiar. Then again, the German food she once had to eat was exactly what she would have expected from an Imperial Germany. History taking a different course due to magic didn't change foodstuff, so perhaps it wasn't too surprising the future wouldn't have changed it too much.

A brown haired boy in a high school uniform walked into the café. "I saw you do some cool acrobatics tricks. What was that?" said the boy.

"We were having a contest of moving between high areas in a hybrid of urban and suburban area. Obviously if it was too urban, the height differences between many of the buildings wouldn't have let it work. She was part of it too" said Tanya.

"That's cool. And you do it with cosplay on too? Wow, that's dedicated. I can see you made hard work to look authentic, about the only thing you couldn't do was make yourself younger. I'm Sota, want to… ah never mind I'm being too imposing" said the boy, meekly slinking away. It was just as well. Whatever he had in mind, the two of them didn't have time for.

"What was he saying?" said Viktoriya. Tanya translated. "Cosplay?"

"It's when one dresses as a character from fiction, usually an anime, a computer game, or light novel" said Tanya. "A computer game is basically a program that takes user inputs and turns it into an entertaining display. One can put objects, characters, and backgrounds. Think of them like interactive movies" said Tanya in German.

"So why was he thinking we do that?" said Viktoriya.

"You know how rare mages are. If there are three popular anime that has a mage as a main character, then there probably would be more people going to conventions with fake flight gear and operation orbs than the real thing. Plus, our uniforms are out of date and not used by any military anymore" said Tanya.

"Do we have enough funds?" said Viktoriya.

"I don't think so yet" said Tanya.

Tanya saw on the news something about an American base nearby with exercises. It seems in this world, America did end up getting along with Japan and set up a base too.

...

The two of them spent some of the afternoon delivering packages. Tanya guessed something shady was going on. Few people would agree to hand over packages to two strangers who asked for jobs with no identification. Tanya made them swear to her that they wouldn't cause physical harm to their recipients and that they were not illegal drugs. She knew the signs of a liar… and hesitation wasn't one of them in contrast to fiction. Something was off when three times thugs tried to stop them at their destinations. They were easily overpowered and the packages were delivered.

"13 deliveries in one afternoon and evening. I'm impressed" said their employer.

"I have a feeling that we should be getting paid more. Something illegal is going on isn't it?" said Tanya.

"The deliveries you made were perfectly legal" said their boss, handing over the money.

Tanya and Viktoriya walked down an alleyway. A black haired woman was being beaten by a trio. "Is that a mugging?" said Viktoriya.

"Yes… you want us to do the right thing don't you?" said Tanya, with a sigh. Well, if one person could make Tanya do so, it was Visha.

At close range, there wasn't even a need to use enchanted bullets. Tanya performed a hip throw on a woman with a knife. Well, this was strange because according to her records, muggers and burglars were always men. Viktoriya used a nearby crowbar and smashed her head open. Another woman made a slash, which Tanya immediately blocked with a directional shield. To stop bullets, one would need thicker sheets of metal than to stop a close range melee attack, but with magic one needs more mana to make a shield to stop the knife. Tanya used 30% of her mana in a telekinesis spell and smashed the mugged into the ground. The third one was a man. Tanya activated the water in a nearby bucket, turned it to ice and then rammed it through his skull. The man dropped without moving.

"We went too far didn't we?" said Tanya. Like enjoying a good movie, she enjoyed… killing these inferior expendables. The fact that her own life wasn't even on the line made it sweeter. Unfortunately, this could attract unwanted police attention and they didn't have papers to prove they had the right to stay in Japan.

"Are you OK?" said Viktoriya, reaching out a hand.

"She can't understand you" said Tanya in German. She reached out her hand "Are you OK?"

"Thanks you too. There is this bar with the best wine and liquor, but it has all these shady people around. You saved me. They wanted to violate me" said the black haired woman.

"No, I'm pretty sure the 'give me your wallet' gave away their intentions" said Tanya, helping the victim up. She had bruises on her leg.

"I need a drink even more now. Want to come with me?" said the black haired woman, grabbing Tanya by a shoulder on her wounded side.

"Sure, we could use a free drink" said Tanya.

...

The trio entered what seemed like a stereotypical "bad guy bar." If it was a legitimate bar, they probably would have checked for her age since Tanya looked 15. On the other hand, the noodles and beef were very good for a place that primarily sells alcohol, much less one of those shady ones. Tanya made sure to keep her Operation Orb full visible on her chest but at the same time close and secure, making it obvious a grab attempt would fail.

"Now that we are in better light. Tanya, is that you?" said the woman.

"My name is Tanya, but I don't think I know you" said Tanya.

"I'm Shinotsuki Shinobu" said the woman. The bought several drinks and downed three while each of the mages each took one. The woman spent most of the time talking about something with relatives.

"You really should have 5 million yen in your wallet" said Tanya.

"Yeah, but even if it was 5 yen wouldn't they have attacked me anyways? It's not like thugs get a 'money of meter' above victims' heads. Don't you remember me? I met your uncle Felix Erikson. He used to be my friend we skied together when I went to Europe. I met your father's family friend Mary Wilson. She stayed with your household for 3 years. And the ski group also included your sempai and friend Cornelia Kaltoft. You came to Japan a long time ago, but I don't really have a connection to you do I? It's no wonder you'd remember me. We only saw each other three times and it was decades. And all three of them are dead. Does your companion there talk?" said Shinotsuki Shinobu.

"She can't speak Japanese. We are foreigners. I don't recall meeting you. What is your profession?" said Tanya.

"I'm an illustrator. When we I did some work, my mind just thought of you when I met you Tanya. You were so adorable. I was quite embarrassed to find you were in your 20s when I thought you were barely middle school aged. Your uncle gave pictures of younger you to me. I tried to ask for your permission once, but the number he gave was out of service. Forgive me if you didn't want me to use you as a model. What is your full name and what is your profession?" said Shinotsuki Shinobu, bowing in apology.

"Tanya von Degurechaff, I'm an officer, but I think I'm legally dead" said Tanya.

"Military officer? That explains the attire. Which country?" said Shinobu.

"The Empire" said Tanya. The woman looked like she was crunching something in her head.

"You know English? Which Empire?" said Shinobu. The alcohol must have been stronger than Tanya through.

"You know which one" said Tanya. There were three separate television stations with several televisions in the bar. Suddenly one of them caught her attention. It was about Oda Nobunaga and the Honnō-ji incident. But that wasn't supposed to happen. Tanya felt something was wrong.

 _"I don't have the faintest idea what you are talking about. Be gone ojou-chan" said_ a bystander who didn't know what embassy Tanya was talking about.

"It can't be" said Tanya in a whisper.

Tanya told Ryou about the story of them being lost soldiers. _Ryou asked more questions and he looked more amused every minute._

"It can't be" said Tanya in a whisper.

 _Miyuki was the same name and a similar look to a person who was dead to Tanya. A normal person would have elicited some feeling from seeing someone who had great physical similarity to a lost one_.

"It can't be" said Tanya raising her voice above a whisper but still quiet.

 _"Honestly, this girl reminds me of my old daughter. Similar appearances, same name, and similar hobbies. Superficially the personality is the same, although I don't really know this namesake girl all that well to make a deeper comment"_ said Tanya a day ago.

"It can't be" said Tanya raising her voice but still quiet.

 _Miyuki name dropped a blond girl named Megumi, a blond girl named Chitose, a black haired girl named Hinata, a blond haired boy named Naruto, a black haired boy three years older named Takeo, a black haired boy one year older named Satoru, and a brown haired boy one year younger named Aoi. The last thing Tanya expected was a girl, a nobody rather than a ruler, to have the same name, similar appearance, and identically named friends_ as someone from her past life.

"It can't be" said Tanya raising her voice but still mostly quiet.

 _"Tanya! Well, I know you're not the real thing. I'm one of your fans. I love you! I love you! I love you!" said Miyuki_ a day ago.

"It can't be" said Tanya.

 _"Huh? Tanya onee-chan, you know we're in Japan"_ said Miyuki a day ago.

"It can't be" said Tanya.

 _"I'm quite sure flying is against the rules, but wall jumping and long jumping aren't" said the man with a laugh_ earlier that day. It was almost as if he didn't believe they could fly.

"It can't be" said Tanya.

" _That's cool. And you do it with cosplay on too? Wow, that's dedicated. I can see you made hard work to look authentic, about the only thing you couldn't do was make yourself younger"_ said the brown haired boy whose name Tanya couldn't remember.

"It can't be" said Tanya.

Tanya saw on the news something about an American base nearby with exercises. It seems in this world, America did end up getting along with Japan and set up a base too.

"It can't be!" said Tanya, suddenly going from quiet to midway between normal speaking and a panicked scream. If her gut feeling was right, they had a bigger problem than being legally dead.

"Little girl, calm down. I don't want to actually need to enforce the law here" said the bartender.

"I'm 28 years old" said Tanya, calming down.

"No, you're in your 30s if I can do math right" said Shinobu

"Who is Oda Nobuyuki?" said Tanya.

"The second Oda Shogun. He reconciled with his older brother after trying to betray him once in the Sengoku Era" said Shinobu. Tanya breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm just kidding. I'm drunk after all" said Shinobu.

"He kept betraying his brother, so he had to disappear" said the bartender.

"What happened during the War of Austrian Succession?" said Tanya.

"Well the Hapsburgs tried to have a female heir, but plenty of neighbors didn't agree with that. Maria Theresa acted as tactician for several battles and then got captured by the Count of Oldenburg. The count held a rightful hier of the Prussian throne, which was usurped three generations before, and both he and Maria Theresa were teenagers and attractive and… well the War degenerated into the War of Prussian Succession too. When Sardinia had a succession, the new heir promised to switch sides if the Hapsburgs to help put down some pretenders, so now it was the War of Austrian Succession, the War of Prussian Succession, and the War of Sardinian Succession. Anyways, the von Hapsburgs won" said Shinobu. "I'm just kidding"

"The Austrians got their butt kicked and had to give up Silesia to keep Austria and Hungary" said the bartender.

"What did Napoleon do to the Holy Roman Empire?" said Tanya.

"He convinced the Hapsburgs to reform it, arguing for his confederation of the Rhine proposals. Eventually, the Hapsburgs Archduke of Austria, Kings of Hungary, Kings of Croatia, Kings of Bohemia, Dukes of Parma, Counts of Oldenburg, Counts of Cleves, Counts of Anesbach, Princes of Brandenburg, Dukes of Fürstenberg, Counts of Messkirch, overlords of Netherlands, Dukes of Lorraine, and Holy Roman Emperors agree. They turned their hodgepodge composite state into the Empire, a de facto unitary state by giving generous donations to the rulers who would lose a lot of autonomy and be reduced to nobles" said Shinobu. "I'm just kidding"

"Napoleon destroyed it" said the bartender.

"Was the first atomic bomb dropped on its creator's soil?" said Tanya.

"Yes, they did it to kill a single mage" said Shinobu. "I'm just kidding"

"Does Hiroshima ring a bell? I know Shinotsuki-san said you were a foreigner but this is ridiculous. Who would be dumb enough to drop one of those on your own soil? At that point, you might as well be conquered rather than blow yourself up" said the bartender.

"Can people fly without machines?" said Tanya.

"Yes, but only mages can. And without flight gear, it's a bit tricky, the maximum distance is short, and they're pretty much sitting ducks if they were military mages as they can't cast spells during flight or for several minutes afterwards" said Shinobu. "I'm just kidding"

"You kidding me? Without a hot air balloon or a plane? Magic isn't real" said the bartender.

Tanya stepped back from the bar chair. What she thought was the reality of the situation, really only the major aspect of it rather than the whole thing, was brought onto her shoulder. Tanya was not just in Japan, but it was her Japan. Meanwhile a huge bar fight was going on and the bouncer was called in. One of the combatans was thrown and he clipped Tanya. She was in such a state of shock that she didn't offer any resistance and collapsed to the floor/

"Tanya-chan?" said Shinobu.

"Tanya! Are you all right?" screamed Viktoriya. In a few days, she had lost everything when she found out all their friends were dead. She lost one significant life companion, she wasn't intending to lose another.

Those were the last words Tanya heard for that night.


	6. So Close to the Truth

So Close to the Truth

April 9, 2014 Japan

Shinotsuki Shinobu carried the strange blond girl to her apartment. Her foreign companion carried the other side. Shinobu opened the door and brought Tanya in. "Ok, put her down" said Shinobu pointing to the couch. She gestured the Tanya and then the couch.

"Wird sie in Ordnung sein?" said the blond companion.

"I can't understand a word you're saying" said Shinobu.

"Ich kann die Fremdsprache nicht sprechen" said the companion.

"It's a Germanic language. Dutch? Swedish? Frisian? Yiddish? German? I know it's not Danish" said Shinobu.

"Ich bin hungrig" said the girl.

"I can't understand a word you're saying. For some reason this all made be hungry even thought I already had dinner. Let's see… take out sushi?" said Shinobu. She took out some rolls from a refrigerator. "Ironic how avocado ends up in the 8th most common roll in this country when avocado aren't even native to Japan" said Shinobu. The girl pointed to her stomach and then the rolls.

"Want three?" said Shinobu pointing to the roll and then three fingers.

"Ich möchte den Fish-zylinder essen" said the girl nodding.

Shinobu poured some soy sauce and took out a set of chopsticks and a fork. She turned her attention to Tanya. The girl looked like she was a first year high school student, but Shinobu met the one who inspired her artwork long ago. She would be in her 30s by now. Going by that, the other blond girl, or woman actually, was probably younger than Tanya, because she looked like she was in her late 20s. Unless, the two blond females with great similarities were actually sisters, in which case Shinobu assumed the one who looked older was indeed older.

Shinobu always regretted never getting full permission for the inspiration for her work, only being told by a relative of Tanya that it was OK and then later calling the disconnected number. Now she feared some legal problems. She didn't remember her model looking this close to her art, so much so it could be considered using ones likeness. If Tanya was younger, she might look exactly like Youjo Senki's art. Shinobu thought it didn't matter since she was only inspired by a real person not of a real person, but this was closer than either party probably wanted. Worse, Shinobu didn't think the surnames matched but last night Tanya said her last name was von Degurechaff.

Shinobu looked closely at her unconscious guest closely. Hmmm, she actually looked younger. Tanya either looked like a large and somewhat shapely middle schooler with legs or just a flat high school girl. Somehow, the military dress uniform suited her perfectly. It wasn't too off from what Shinobu imagined their character might look a decade or so later. The decals included Imperial insignia. So, apparently the girl was a cosplayer. Well, Tanya probably didn't come to sue if that was the case. Shinobu guessed this was a fan. This meant her companion, possibly a sister, was also cosplaying since the odd uniforms matched.

"I am Shinobu" said Shinobu pointing to herself. She repeated this thee times and gestured form her head to chest, to indicate she wasn't just pointing at her clothing.

"I… am Viktoriya" said the companion in grammatically correct Japanese.

"Huh, so I guess you're still in character. Nice to meet you Viktoriya. Come to think to it, you can also pass for my character design, although not quite as convincing as Tanya. Which is ironic since my art shows Tanya at 9 to 12 and she looks older than that" said Shinobu

"Tanya" said Viktoriya fondly.

"Are you her older sister?" said Shinobu.

"Takeda Miyuki hat Tanya so genannt" said Viktoriya.

There wasn't Shinobu could figure out other than the two were attached. She watched Viktoriya finish her small meal and some juice. Viktoyia then looked at the fridge and then sank onto the couch next to her unconscious companion. Viktoriya started crying softly. Shinobu looked at the place Viktoriya was looking at. There were a few pictures of Tokyo, some nature Shinobu wanted to visit, some friends, and her family. There was also a calendar in the general area the guest was looking at. Maybe it wasn't what was on the fridge?

…

November 4th 1934 Berun, Empire Another World

The 203rd mage battalion finished their part of the victory celebration. After many years, there was peace. The Republic, the traitorous Iloda, and a few other African countries that challenged the Empire were all annexed. Hispania was forced to give up the Mediterranean coast and turn into a monarchy with lots of power in the hands of its sovereign, who was also Charles X von Hapsburg of the Empire. Russia was restored with Julius von Hapsburg, married to a female claimant to the old Russian throne. Dakia had its ruler replaced with a friendly one. Surprisingly, Charles X sold Norden, or Denmark as the locals called it, to the Entente. Rather than being punished for their part in starting the war, its politicians had its property confiscated and a monarch was put in charge of a larger territory, after certain people had been appropriately punished of course. Flavius I of the Entente was even allowed to keep the March of Schleswig, as he was the next in line after his cousin, an Imperial, died in America, although the king swore fealty as Marquess of Schleswig to Charles. Charles X now controlled all of the former Holy Roman Empire and all the former Western Roman Empire, except for the area around Londinium in Britain and the Papal enclave in Rome. The Empire greatly expanded its Pacific and African territories and forced the Americans to pay for 30% of their war costs. After missing a victory in a Continental War, they won a World War. The only other great power, the Allied Kingdom, was willing to dismiss its ministers who declared war and make amends.

After dinner, a brown haired man walked up to Tanya. It was 1st Lieutenant Warren Granz. "Viktoriya… you know what I've been talking about this morning. I think you are pretty. I… love you. Please go out with me" said Warren Granz.

"… I'm not opposed to that idea by itself but… when boys ask that they usually expect an affirmative to mean that the receiver isn't going out and will not go out with anyone else. In other words, usually they expect an acceptance to be mutually exclusive to getting close to others in a certain way" said Viktoriya.

"Is there someone else? Who is he?" said Warren Granz.

"If I accept and we do go out, you must expect to play second fiddle to someone who caught my heart first and stronger if that person accepts my feelings. That person is a military officer we both admire whose birthday we celebrated recently" said Viktoriya.

"I see… my confession still stands" said Warren Granz.

"How about a trip to the Bohemian Forest? We can spend 32 days there before I go to The Akitsushima Imperium with the Brigadier General?" said Viktoriya.

"You are taking her up on her offer? I'm still undecided. She's only going to pay 30% of the travel costs and none of the food." said Warren.

"I'm going. The General said her reasons were personal and didn't expect to find what she was missing, but she wanted to go anyways. She invited us because she was intending to enjoy herself for three months or so there while she was there. They say Christmas is a time for couples since it is an imported holiday but doesn't mean much to the Shinto" said Viktoriya.

"She told you it was personal? That's more than she told any of us, even Major Weiss or Captain Koenig. It's odd she would want to go there when she had never set foot in an oriental country." said Warren. The two officers thought about their commander. She was still a mystery despite the years spent living together as they went from one battlefield to another.

…

January 20th 1938 Countryside in Savoy, Empire Another World

"And the manor renovations are done!" shouted Tanya with glee. The old castle still existed, but there were extensive wings that dwarfed the old castle. The new extensions contained centralized air conditioning. "Trichlorofluoromethane might be a bit less friendly to the ozone than mechanical air conditioning, but I'm not going to be around in 1000 years anyways" said Tanya

Granz and Viktoriya kept silence, admiring the new renovations while ignoring the non sequitur. Sometimes Tanya said something that never really made too much sense when she talked about developing technologies, Akitsushima Imperium, or history.

"It's just in time for your promotion too, to be Captain Granz" said Tanya.

"Can you afford all this on a general's salary?" said Lieutenant Granz.

"Don't forget, I'm not merely von Degurechaff. I'm a countess now. Don't be shy, we have plenty of space. It's bigger than a small city and we can have over 3,000 people living in luxury, plus an army of servants. Well, we don't really have guests and it's just us plus 32 servants so I guess most of the manor is a waste of resources, unless your goal is to impress someone if they come over" said Tanya.

"The Kaiser isn't going to come to you. He went to the Count of Maine for reasons unrelated to military reasons" said Viktoriya.

"I originally was attracted to skyscraper style apartments, but when I think about it, I guess we're 30 years from getting to comfortable ones. We can build tall buildings, but not squeeze comfort in them yet. Viktoriya wanted to settle into a rural area and the county came with the castle and all this land, so… why not? The gardens will make the Hanging Gardens look like a parlor. As a noble, I don't pay taxes unless I earn income from the property. And I made investments into various profitable businesses, so it's just receive dividend checks"

"Do you think he'll love it?" said Viktoriya.

"Cornelius? The biological child of your 2nd cousin, who was practically an older sister to you, and Granz's late brother? Since she can't take care of him, I think he'll like this place. He'll certainly eat better here. He's only 3, so it's not like he got attached to Berun" said Tanya.

"I didn't think we'd be taking care of a child so soon" said Granz.

"Salmonella got many of our allies. Our original battalion had only 30% of its original members. What did most of them in was sick leave, and some even died. If penicillin came out one year earlier, Granz's brother would still be with us" said Tanya.

"You can call me Warren, we known each other for a while and we will be living together, even if there is more room here than the barracks" said Warren Granz.

…

April 20th 1942 Normandy, Empire Another World

Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff was sent on her 4th tour in the America-Empire colonial war. While the prewar objectives were achieved, the Empire needed to punish America for its treaty violations and they wanted recognition of their right to exist, which was not actually given in the World War because Charles asked for land and payments, not recognition. The Allied Kingdom was also displeased by the fake surrender and instituted 200% tariffs on all trade going in and out of American territory, and if they wanted to contest the Royal Navy, they were happy to declare war. They also rented out transport ships to the Empire to be used by anything but weapons, relieving some of the Empire's logistical issues.

"I'm going to bring Visha with me. We're winning the war. We'll probably do 30 or so sorties and then just spend the rest of the time staying about our own air defenses. They probably want me as a tactician. The better radios this war allows me to know what's going on at all times. We'll be home by Christmas" said Tanya.

"Sorry we didn't come with you in the first few tours" said Warren.

"It's OK, we're in different units now. I only have her because I asked for a specific adjuvant this time. I'm not a brigade commander anymore. You two did a tour in West Africa, you contributed. It's not a total war, we can rotate" said Tanya.

"Are you optimistic?" said Viktoriya.

"I was worried three years ago when war broke out, but the ocean no longer protects the enemy. We'll be back by Christmas" said Tanya.

"Bye Auntie-Tanya. Bye Mom-Viktoriya" said Cornelius. Visha gave everyone a hug.

"Visha… promise me you won't die in America" said Warren.

"Warren, I can keep that promise" said Viktoriya. It was a promised that would be kept in words, but not in intention.

…

End flashback

April 10, 2014 Japan

Viktoriya awoke to a start. And now she remembered. Everyone was dead. Her parents, her sister, her high school friends, three friends she knew since she first came as a refugee from Moscow, her comrades, Cornelius, Warren… all dead. And she knew the meaning of what the Lord said. Even if they went back to the Empire, with everyone they knew having died of old age, it wasn't home in a sense. They were effectively exiled. No amount of parades and hero's welcome would fix that. Viktoriya moved over and squeezed Tanya and let out a tear.

"You get the implications of what I said? Good job Visha. Let it all out. It wouldn't have done you much good to let it out in a place where we were vulnerable" said Tanya softly.

"Thanks for letting us stay over" said Tanya in Japanese to her host.

"Sure, anytime" said Shinobu, still nervous at the thought of copying Tanya so well.

"We have a… money problem. Specifically, we don't have any. Or jobs, and while I can work as an office drone, I don't have any paperwork to prove I am competent as I am" said Tanya.

"Huh…" said Shinobu.

"You can tell me the story of how we met later. You said you used the memory of me to make an illustration? Is the girl supposed to be attractive?" said Tanya.

"Well, she's supposed to be cute" said Shinobu.

"I'm flattered you picked me" said Tanya, subtly oiling her voice.

\ "I can give you three more nights of stays I guess" said Shinobu.

"Thanks Shinobu-sama" said Tanya, bowing.

"No need for the –sama. -san works fine. You know, you're like her in trying to kiss butt. And you're fairly good since while I didn't accept that, I'm not upset at all by your attempt" said Shinbou. "I have some breakfast prepared for you. We can exchange stories later, but the police want to see me" said Shinobu.

"We didn't do anything illegal, except possibly existing which may or may not be, but it would be troublesome if the police got ahold of us" said Tanya.

"I won't make any lies, but there are creative ways to avoid certain information" said Shinobu.

Tanya and Visha had omelets and cut fruits. "Strawberries, bananas, and mangos? Is she rich?" said Viktoriya.

"To have these means an extensive line of refrigerated transport. You asked if this was a land of plenty, and I told you it was" said Tanya. She thought about the other soldiers from ground zero. She didn't know them personally and as human resources, they had skills that could not be used in this situation. It was a shame, but she was going to have to abandon them. Hopefully Viktoriya would have her mind occupied and not think of it too much. Tanya felt a painful prang at the thought of Viktoriya realizing she could never see her loved ones again. Tanya quickly suppressed the feeling. The immediate thing to do was acquire funds and get Viktoriya up to speed on the language. It's not like she would be home in Germany either. Oh, there is going to be a whole new history, that's going to be annoying.

The two of them put on flight gear and prepared to leave by balcony. "Try to avoid attracting too much attention. We'll stick to the clouds" said Tanya. Viktoriya nodded.

The two of them flew towards where Tanya thought there would be books in German. Suddenly another figure appeared. There should not be any mages in Tanya's old world. It was a girl with long white hair and the strange military uniform. "Military Uniform Princess? Are you a pawn of Being X?" said Tanya in Japanese.

"How do you like the world of the despicable gods of pleasure?" said Military Uniform Princess.

"Should I fire?" said Viktroiya.

"Not yet, it doesn't look like she wants to challenge us, while before her intention to bringing us to the ground was obvious. We have limited bullets" said Tanya in German.

"You stranded us here with no funds and no allies" said Tanya in Japanese.

"Is that your biggest concern? Didn't you meet your Shinobu?" said Military Uniform Princess.

"The illustrator? What about her? Apparently I look like one acquaintance of hers. The memory and likeness of her was used to make drawings" said Tanya.

"I see. Recent events made her busy, I guess it was so busy you didn't have time for an extensive talk. What would you do if you got ahold of the god who put you in this mess" said Military Uniform Princess.

"Being X? He's no god. If I got ahold of him… sure he needs to keep the laws of magic keep working whatever. I'll beat him to a pulp and make him cry 'uncle.' And while I was at it, I would ask for something. I dunno, I would get something other than pride, I guess it would be material. He's nothing more than a piece of shit" said Tanya.

"You intend to attack Being X with power granted by him? Interesting. But what I find more interesting is your displeasure with your situation. I don't know the details and apparently what I'm missing is the first part of episode 2 before the orphanage. But your displeasure with the one who put you in the situation is undeniable. What if Being X was working for someone? Well, it doesn't matter. I'll give you time and you'll find out soon enough. It's clear I can't beat you alone Tanya, and you could kill me in one stroke so I won't fight" said Military Uniform Princess, retreating.

Military Uniform Princess was getting better with her portals. She didn't take a whole town in by accident, she didn't go to the wrong destination by accident, and she didn't knock herself unconscious on the return trip by accident. She wanted to be able to go alongside others she transports without a few hours delay on the other side, and she made a gap a third of what it used to be. Her biggest pleasure was that she might have found an ally with the greatest motivation yet.

Author's Note: If anyone has more than 3 weeks of German and a German English Dictionary, they are more than happy to PM me to help clean up the first part of the Chapter from Shinobu's perspective


	7. Connections Loop Back

Connections Loop Back

…

April 25, 2010

Izumi Konata was finally getting used to the new life after three long years. The entire family had been living in a fishbowl their entire lives, or to be accurate the years Konata was in high school. Her father Sojiro was somewhat less recognized and dealt with the anomaly easily. Eventually he started making books again, although with some irregularity.

Poor Hiiragi Tsukasa went into shock and didn't leave her home out of embarrassment for three months. It was surprising she was able to graduate with relatively good grades. It was even more surprising that it was Konata and not Kagami which helped her catch up, to a degree. Her grades were lowered, but the B+ wasn't bad.

Kagami ended up getting hit harder by this. She wasn't able to pull herself together until after Tsukasa came to school. In some sense, she had never seemed to fully recover, although 99.70% of the time when talking to Konata and her friends this was hidden and it was hidden to anyone who watched Lucky Star, a short biography of their lives.

Takara Miyuki was the third and last one to enter a multi-day state of shock and recovered around the time Tsukasa did. Most of the rest of the town only had a few days of shock and outrage. Some of them encouraged the Izumis to sue Kyoto Animation.

Three years ago, Konata met them in a town meeting with the recently demoted Mayor of Satte, or as the central government called him "show Mayor." Serious for once, Konata told them their situation was grim. With no documentation and their banks looking like fake branches, all of them could be penniless or even kicked out of their homes. Their only hope was to comply with the central government, which wanted to keep a lid on things from getting public. At most, her existence could be a half open secret where everyone heard of the rumor of Konata Izumi being a real person, but with almost no one outside government authorization having any proof.

Agent Aoyagi Mamoru was able to secure them a guarantee of an ad hoc legal status. This gave them all the same status as citizens except that they could not vote for Mayors of any municpiality, leave the country without a 35 days' notice, vote for the Japanese Diet, press charges, or speak to the media. If wronged by someone else, they could either go through the Security Bureau or the lawsuit system. This protection can be revoked by the Emperor, which really means a Minister acting in his name. All of this was contingent upon a 75% supermajority agreeing to this, otherwise the paperwork would be dealt with by an induvial basis. Satte unanimously agreed. Life continued on mostly as normal, except for the toursits. Konata would respond with the stock phrase "yes I'm a cosplayer, but Konata is actually my legal name too" She assumed the others were spoon-fed similar lines to repeat.

By now, Konata had probably been less content with the changes than the Hiiragi sisters. Tsukasa-chan seemed to have finally brushed it off and feels that it's OK. There were more Tsukasa cosplayers than the one her, so she wasn't bombarded with questions. Kagami got over it too.

But while Konata had reacted with only mild distress at being exposed more than the others, the problem was that there was no internet! The world's concept of it seemed to have originated from 3 sci-fi books, one published in 1990, one in 2003, and one in 2006. They talked about the concepts of breaking data into megabyte sized pieces and sending them down different routes and the order they arrive in is irrelevant because they could be reassembled. National Science Foundation Network was only something of fiction in the new world. ISPs never came into place. In fact, one person pointed out the absurdity. Cable companies in one of the books ended up laying down the hardware and bandwidth of the data, but thanks to a loophole in the law could not discriminate their own data (the cable TV) and the ISP data when charging, in effect diminishing investment return. One person said of the third book "technologically possible, but commercially stupid. Even if we can send data by electronic mailing, do purchases, and various things that will improve the economy, the ones responsible for the infrastructure will have to compete on price alone and many will go out of business at the expense of others. That's right, in the best case scenario the owners of the infrastructure don't make a profit as a whole"

Indeed, the Japanese and America cable companies, none of which Konata recognized, appeared to be doing well, while she vaguely remembered their old counterparts having small margins in a newspaper (she was bored that day).

It has made its biggest mark on fiction. Each of the books spawned an era of sci-fi fiction that had the big network as either a plot point or something used. By 2008 when Konata's town was taken from its origin and plopped onto an almost identical copy, most of the attention was gone in the West. In Japan there was still interest. Some like the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which still exists episode by episode like Konata knew, had it as a periphery. A new light novel called Overlord came out where the main character ended up getting stuck in a VRMMORPG. While Konata didn't touch that series, she had started to grow fond of light novels and bought some Haruhi volumes too. Konata lost all the levels gained in her games. If there was one consolation, Konata did get to see her star Hirano Ayo on a somewhat regular basis when work allowed.

There was a silver lining. For the most part, the "cast" of Lucky Star as the government calls them, didn't know anyone outside Satte. In fact, with one exception, not only did no one knew anyone outside Satte, but there was no one who was connected by friendship, co-habitation, same high school class, employment, or family who was disconnected from associates. It must be a fairly insular community. Despite over 3,000 households transplanted, one would have to travel through three links from the Lucky Star cast to the outside world, which did not get transplanted. Also, there were only 750 people with links lost. Admittedly, the transplanted city had plenty of relatives visiting from Tokyo at that time for various reasons.

One exception had lost connections despite have zero links from the cast, Patricia "Patty" Martin and the other Martins. Recently, they had left for the States on a tourist visa, but Patty had suddenly disappeared. She surfaced a week after the Martins came back to Japan, calling from an INS detention center. It was fairly easy to track her as she was using her parent's credit card. From the location names, it can be seen she went to Boston, Kanas City, and New Orleans. She was surly the one with the most permanent effects.

Konata's cell phone rang. "Immigration and Nationalization Service" said the caller id. She had learned English from Patricia. She picked it up.

"Kona-chan…" said Patty.

"Patty, I heard you talked to your parents yesterday" said Konata.

"They're all gone! My childhood friends are gone. We went to our hometown and no one remembers us. The house was there but it was devoid of personal belongings, except a bed and a hobo. Four of my best friends were supposed to be there but they aren't even on the old class roasters!" said Patty.

"It's the same for the few of the ones in town who had connections outside Satte" said Konata.

"And how many of them lost much outside their nuclear family?" said Patty.

"Well, to be honest none since the few that had many connections outside the town had many of their family passed away" said Konata.

"I didn't think they could all disappear. Four of my friends from town were gone, but I knew some of them had moved since Middle school. Flavia, Bob, and Mary might have been there so I went to look for them" said Patty.

"And none of them were they I guess?"

"Bob existed and flirted with me. But… he's not Bob. He's nothing more than a lookalike. He should have been three years younger than me and not the same age. Worse, he remembers absolutely none of what we did together. We're strangers!" said Patty.

"Well Ayo is in this world even if she wasn't the same one I got my autograph from" said Konata. The one in this world even said the autograph was perfect.

"Sniff. Everything… we were spied on for hours at a time for our high school lives. Then I find out we are illegal aliens as far as the Feds are concerned. We finally go there and almost everyone is gone. And just for fate to tease me, I see a lookalike. His name is the same and his personality is the same but it's not him" said Patty.

A single tear emerged from Konota's eye. Patty and this lookalike have no common experiences together. She knows mechanically how this worked, as Hirano Ayo claimed she was not in Satte on any sort of tour and never visited there except as a tourist. Therefore she denied holding a concert and giving anyone an autograph there because form her perspective, they simply didn't happen. However, in this case Konata had no strong emotional connection, simply fan worship. As long as Ayo is herself, this was fine, but for Patty her experiences with her friends were erased. "Patty…" said Konata. She had no idea on how to comfort her friend.

…

April 8, 2014 Japan

Five girls, or technically legal adults, with odd hair were gathered around an ice cream parlor eating ice cream.

"It's been seven years hasn't it been?" said Hiiragi Tsukasa.

"What makes you think of that now" said Takara Miyuki.

"You weren't hear, but for me and the Hiiragi twins this is where it all started. It was shortly after we saw that strange girl wasn't it Kasa-chan?" said Izumi Konata.

"I remember her clearly" said Tsukasa.

"I think she's like a character form a video game or an anime. The uniform is not practical, but it doesn't seme to be a dress uniform" said Konata.

"There you go again Konata-neechan" said Yukata. "You are always comparing situations to anime. But it simply doesn't work that way"

"We were on one apparently, which almost followed the life we followed, it's like the whole world was stalkers. At least I know my appeal to a certain grouping is real" said Konata. "Patty, you're quiet. I heard that your parents finished their arguments against the Feds. Did you lose your family home?"

"No. Official records could not find an owner in the past 3 decades but the deeds they have seems to be in order and so were the papers that had recorded them paying municipal taxes. The town admitted they could have misplaced their own copy. The house is ours" said Patricia Martin

"So are you going home if you get a visa?" said Miyuki.

"You don't understand. The town I was born in not only has no records of me, but there are subtle differences in town history since 1970. Since no one knows me there and I don't have any bonds, that place is about as home as London is" said Patty.

"Patty, you're not making any sense. You went to London as a tourist. The only thing that would make it home is that they speak English there" said Tsukasa.

"This is exactly the point. As far as I'm concerned, that isn't home. It's about home to me as London is. Or as your strawberry ice cream is to my cone" said Patty, throwing the cone remnant and the last bit of ice cream into her mouth and swallowing the 3 cm fragment whole. "Japan is my home despite not having my native tongue. Konata, the Hiiragi twins, Miyuki… you are all my family has left"

"It's Ok to let it out. You don't need to cry" said Yukata.

"I've already cried over it Yukata. It's OK. Or rather it's about as OK as it is going to be now that I accept I'm not seeing them again" said Patty.

"If there is any consolation, we financially better off" said Miyuki.

"It's really all Konata's doing" said Tsukasa.

"He he he" said Konata. Aoyagi Mamoru was shocked when he found out that his superiors singed away life annuities of 11,500,000 yen for every resident above the age of 5 as "hush money". Others in the ministry tried to reverse it, while most agreed the honorable thing to do would be to keep their end of the bargain that was already in ink. A memo went out to only have skill negotiators sign anything Konata, grandfathering in anyone who already worked on the Satte case.

Perhaps more than Konata's pleasure on securing it was playing with Kagami. She said she used her cuteness on "dirty old bureaucrats" to get them idea. Kagami looked disgusted and Konata pushed the issue further by saying the one who had the least resistance was one who was caught with three mistresses a few weeks ago. Men were so easy to read. After getting some laughs, Konata clarified she was wearing clothing, specifically her winter school uniform, the whole time.

"But it's not like we have no other income sources. Look at Sumrie-san" said Miyuki.

The ice cream parlor manager turned towards the girls. "Yes?" she said.

"A lot of people came here when the rumors that I came here, didn't they? Same with all the family restaurants I went to in town, and one in Tokyo that I endorsed after a trip of Akihabara" said Konata.

"Yeah, and we always have the same government supplied stock phrase to tell them. I don't think the government wants to keep you a secret so much as prevent anyone from confirming their suspicions" said Sumrie.

"I'm a tutor. Kagami-chan is a botanist. And you're an animator… and voice actress. That's an unusual combination. Yukata is an office lady… how's Yashagoro?" said Miyuki.

"We're fine. I don't know if we're steady after 4 dates" said Yukata. She was always worried she would be stuck with a child's body, but it turned out for the most part she was simply a slow grower and grew bigger and curvier as the years past. Yukata was actually 3 cm taller than her cousin by this time. There was one sore spot where she had similarity to Konata in terms of growth.

"I'm surprised you didn't dump him after you heard him say 'I'm surprised I like her since I prefer girls with boobs. She… doesn't have anything visible there even in a swimsuit'" said Konata.

"It's not entirely fair to judge someone talking to their friends and not your face, at least not if they're drunk enough to drive in America" said Tsukasa. If he was sloshed at that time, he certainly wasn't able to lie to a friend.

"It's still hard to ignore" said Konata and Yukata simultaneously. They looked at each other.

"And at least in this world, the nonprofit Shinto shrines are tax-exempt. The government can even pay up to 30% of the non-staff expenses, unlike previously where all expenses were donation driven as in that world it didn't support any of the shrines. You're the main shrine maiden now aren't you Tsukasa?" said Miyuki.

"Yes, Kagami-neechan usually only accompanies me three time a year on the important holidays, so I usually carry out the rituals alone" said Tsukasa.

"You all became very devout in the past few years, especially Tsukasa-chan" said Yukata.

"Everyone in town is trying to find meaning for our lives. The more screentime a person had on Lucky Star, the bigger the attempt, although Konata seems to be the exception" said Tsukasa.

"It's not that I don't believe in the gods, but I don't think one needs to go soul searching for that much more after the strange events. Unlike Patty, I didn't lose anyone" said Konata.

"How are the royalties?" said Miyuki.

"Strictly speaking they aren't royalties, it's KyoAni's willingly contribution, a 'donation' they called it. We're given 1/3000 of non anime profits, this includes Lucky Star merchandise and the manga. It's split between us based on how many frames we appear in, although my fames are weighed triple as much as anyone else. I'm probably the only one making more of that than from the annuity" said Konata.

"How did you end up being a voice actress?" said Tsukasa.

"Well, I ended up filling in for Ayo a few times, and they decided they could use me. I could cover the full range of emotions, but lacked the ability to cover certain characters. So, I am only having voices for three anime, not counting the times I fill her in. Two of them are minors and one is a side character. To continue a normal workweek, I still do my original job at Kyoto Animation, animation" said Konata.

"Normal work week… you only work 1/3 as much as the rest of us Kona-chan" said Miyuki.

"At this point it's no longer about the money, but about having satisfaction with life. I think something like that exists in the Western show… Star Trek? Never saw it, but some of my new friends told me about the setting" said Konata.

"You guys are my old friends and we'll never lose each other" said Patty. They went into a group hug. They had no intention of letting the party split.

"I wish Kagami wasn't out with a cold" said Konata.

"I heard you and Ayo met a new friend?" said Tsukasa.

"Yuki Aoi. Studio NUT ran into problems after a third episode of their first anime. My manager joked they should have started three weeks earlier. Anyways, some animation from episodes to 6 was outsourced to us. I think it takes me three times as long to do a second of animation in that style rather than the ones of the anime Kyoto Animation normally does, simply because I'm not used to that style. A recap episode prevented them from needing us and it also allowed them to keep on schedule. So I got to know many of their team" said Konata.

"One of the ones she used to do was Overlord… based on the premise of an MMORPG, like what is no longer in my grasp" said Konata looking high.

…

April 9, 2014 Japan

"Hi Yuki-san. How are you doing?" said Konata on the phone.

"Not too bad. You helped us out back there. I hear you are doing voices now. Are you a mobile one like me?" said Yuki Aoi.

"I'm probably sticking to in-house work. You were playing against type last year in Youjo Senki weren't you?" said Konata.

"Huh, well I did to a descendant of Vlad the Impaler once, so a character that gives off the impression of a vampire to the other lead is not completely out of the question. At least the anime makes Viktoriya into another lead, although it's a bit of an accident of cutting some scenes. Unlike most other deals, all the voice actors are getting a percentage. Or rather, all of us are splitting less than a percentage, but given the sudden popularity explosion this might end up being a lot" said Aoi.

"I heard you worked with the creators of the Light Novel before you ended up voicing her" said Konata.

"Just like you ended up writing the script for an episode of the character you voiced in and later animated" said Aoi, chuckling. "You can't seem to get your voice quite right when you the pitch needs to get lower. This could be why you were never given any leads"

"I could do a perfect Haruhi, if it wasn't already done" said Konata.

"Want to hang out for dinner? My treat. Shinobu said she would likely be prevented from meeting with me" said Aoi.

"We can let my fellow animator Mitsuki join us too, right?" said Konata.

"Of course Kona-chan" said Aoi.

"I realize I'm a loli, but unless I'm trying to get into a movie theatre at the kid's rate, I only want my friends calling me that" said Konata.

"Sorry Konata-san" said Aoi. They hung up.

Yuki Aoi wondered what exactly was going on. She called Shinotsuki Shinobu. Three times she left messages. Three hours after her first try, she got through.

"Hi Shinobu-chan. What's keeping you occupied tonight?" said Aoi.

"Nothing wrong 'Carlo.'" said Shinobu.

"You do realize several of your partners who wrote fit the bill for that name more than I do right? I only gave you some passages" said Aoi.

"I'd say more than some. Aoi-chan, it's enough to get recognized by our publisher Enterbrain and NUT don't be so modest even if you aren't the primary contributor. Anyways, I got mugged last night and the muggers are… well let's just say I'm quite sure they will never break the law again. I have to talk to the police a bit. And I have a few unexpected guests" said Shinobu.

"I take it that those three are not entirely unrelated Shinobu-chan?" said Aoi.

"No. One of the guests looks exactly like Tanya. I told you how my image of her was inspired by a girl named Tanya I met years ago and the girl's nine year old picture? Or technically she was already a legal adult and was a bit annoyed by that. Well, she arrived out of the blue. And it seems Tanya-chan actually looks even more alike my illustrations than I remembered. In fact, it's exactly what I'd imagine her to be when she is 15, although the story hasn't gotten there yet so there is no need to illustrate that" said Shinobu.

"Ha ha ha. I remember you telling about that girl. You never remembered her surname. Don't tell me it was Degurechaff" said Aoi, laughing.

"Actually, this is what is troubling me. I think that is what she told me her name was" said Shinobu.

Aoi frowned. "I suppose you're going to talk to your lawyer, right?" said Aoi.

"I've already dropped off a picture of the mystery girl at his office and a note I'd be calling him later today" said Shinobu.

"If you have legal trouble, I can't help you. I feel almost as sorry for you as the girl whose face you accidentally stole for your illustration" said Aoi.

"You know I never meant it to be that way. I have to go. Bye" said Shinobu. She got off the train and headed to her apartment. It didn't seem as the mystery girls were present. Well, it was time to make a call she had already intended to make.

"Nakamura-sama? Did you get a look at my note?" said Shinobu.

"Shinotsuki-san, I'm afraid I don't have good news" said the lawyer.

"You can call me by my given name, we know each other" said Shinobu.

"This is probably why you should pick another lawyer. I can offer a 70% discount on my sessions, but as a friend my objectivity is clouded. This isn't as bad a psychologist who loses objectivity, but it can be a problem. Also, you know I'm good but not the best and you can afford the best" said Nakamura.

"How likely it is that Tanya could be a… problem?" said Shinobu.

"Well let's put it this way. It looks very much like you stole her likeness and it's not merely a given name as you initially thought but a full name you took from inspiration. I'd say you are probably in a fair degree of trouble if Degurechaff-san decides to cause you trouble. Your best hope is that she has no visa right now and is an illegal immigrant, which nullifies her standing. In that event, you would only stand to lose anything in Denmark, you said she was Danish right, or more likely the EU. By agreements made with other markets like America, the Commonwealth counties except Britain, Kenya, India, and others, if a Japanese creator has a dispute with someone whose real life details were used but also came to Japan illegally, their claim is automatically nullified there too once the deportation notice is served. The proper channel for an American ripped off by a Japanese creator would be his own local court for that market, and we would allow a visa or representative for the Japanese market. Likewise, for a Danish girl to have a claim on the American markets, she would either need to file in America the place of release or come here, the place or origin, with a valid visa or send a representative here to file suit. If she gets into court with standing, I must say that her odds are high. I havn't seen pictures of the real young Tanya though. We can meet to discuss more details next week" said the lawyer.

Shinobu wondered if this was similar to what Aoi had encountered. Aoi met an animated called Izumi Konata and said the resemblance was similar, but coyly avoided any questioning if it was _the_ Konata. There was a rumor the Konata came to life. This probably was similar to the rumor that a week ago, Godzilla was responsible for the mysterious missing of several US navy ships. There were crewmembers of the missing ship on shore who talked about the monster while in bars, although denied all of it when sober.

She wondered when the girls were arriving.

…

Tanya von Degurechaff and Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov started jumping with assist into the direction of the ammunition dump much to Tanya's annoyance. Viktoriya did remember the others. Tanya said the best way to help them was to help themselves get established and then help, but she insisted on at least getting them to proper medical attention, instead of the first aid they gave the others previous. The soldiers at the dump were not her unit or responsibility. In wartime, they had been allies, but now they were nothing but injured liabilities. The two of them had spent too much mana in the past few days. Tanya intended to keep a minimum reserve if flight was absolutely necessary because Visha would quickly reach her limit, even without combat usage of mana. They needed to just eat giant meals.

"Viktoriya, we are not simply in the future. What if I told you there was a world where the Hapsburgs never unified Germany?" said Tanya.

"Germany… I think there was a Kingdom of Germany in the early middle ages. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire before the Kaiser's line became Emperors right? Nowadays we just use it to refer to the North part of the Empire, above the crownlands in Austria" said Viktoriya.

"Can you imagine a world without magic?" said Tanya.

"It'd be odd and we would both be out of a job, but that's easy to imagine" said Viktoriya.

"What about a world where the Americans are not total bastards? One where they sometimes do unsavory things, but really what most countries would do if their GDP was as bigger than the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th biggest economies combined? You know, a bit of throwing muscle around, but not out of malice but out of simple self-interest? One where it has few hypocrisies other than claiming to be a higher moral ground country when it is a country with its flaws and its proud achievements?"

"What? Those guys were total hypocrites to the Loyalists when their country was founded. The seizing of property against Loyalists who did not raise arms goes against both what all men were supposed to have Declaration of Independence and the future Constitution. And before you think that they had hypocrisy just for founding, the use of the 20 kiloton bombs were in clear violation of the Third Treaty of Worms. Any new weaponry that can breach the strongest fortress or will be used as a mass destruction weapon like the bubonic plague has to be demonstrated before its usage. The British, when it was still Great Britain, invited European representatives in 1750 to show how the new cannons penetrated existing forts. Illoda showed the usage of their new virus on a rebelling village before they used it in war. The Empire demonstrated the use of mustard gas on 3,000 condemned prisoners in 1911, although we never ended up using it in the war three years later. It was only used in the World War after the Americans started illegal arming civilian-clad partisans. Anyone who uses civilians to fight is to be condemned, for partisan who looks like a civilian endangers actual civilians"

"What about one where the Holy Roman Empire never united?" said Tanya.

"It never did. Napoleon made the Confederation of the Rhine, Po, Touloubre, and Mediterranean. The royal family gathered many components of the Federation which were part of the Holy Roman Empire before creating the modern state" said Viktoriya.

"OK, can you imagine a world where modern countries in Europe are formed on ethnic boundaries instead of dynastic loyalty?" said Tanya.

"That seems unlikely. I mean, I know in the 1800s several Polish speaking contingents kept surrendering on sight, which suggests loyalty based on ethnic lines, but some fought as hard as the Rhinelanders, Bohemians, and Berliners" said Viktoriya.

"What about a world where the Hapsburgs lost land in The War of Austrian Succession… or perhaps I should say a War of Austrian Succession?" said Tanya.

"Impossible. We won that war. 200 years ago… or perhaps over 300 years ago since we're in the future. We were attacked by Kingdoms, one of which had an usper on the throne. Maria Theresa not only won several battlefield victories, she accidentally won the heart of the great grandson of the last rightful king and the true heir. Even if she didn't meet him, she was one of our best leaders, a child general like you became" said Viktoriya.

"I'd argue she was a good tactician but not really a good general, considering she nearly got the army destroyed by shedding its supply train for speed. We aren't in the future, Anyways, can you imagine one where the Hapsburgs lost there and went downhill?" said Tanya.

"That's impossible. The Lord is behind the royal family. And what do you mean this isn't the future? Being in the future explains everything" said Viktoriya.

"See the thing is, we're not in the future. This is another world. It is a world where all of the events I'm describing took place. There are not seven fundamental forces, but four. History is nothing like what you imagine. The Empire doesn't exist as a country. Its closest analog is Germany where a Hapsburg never sat on the throne, unless you count Rudolf I who started ruling in 1273" said Tanya.

"I know Rudolf, he was one of the earliest… wait the Empire doesn't exist?"

"Germany took several symbols of its substates like what the Empire did when it formed, so some symbols are the same. But it's not the same country. The ruling dynasty is not the Hapsburgs. It was not formed by a personal union but by a constitution and a war. Berlin was never renamed. And it was a pariah country for a while" said Tanya.

Viktoriya let this sink in for three minutes. "I am shocked, but this doesn't change our situation a whole lot right? All it means is that we can't just show up at an embassy and get ourselves legally alive." said Viktoriya.

"I know what it's like. A world with no allies, where you have no status or money. A world where you are a nobody with nothing to your name. Going from having a lot to almost nothing and surrounded by strangers. I know what it's like" said Tanya, thinking of her early days at the orphanage.

"What kind of life did you lead before the Army? You once had something and then lost it? Was it a group of friends who died in the big fire? Anyways, the situation is a bit different here since you knew the language of the Empire" said Viktoriya.

"I didn't know German in my first year at the orphanage" said Tanya. Vikrotiya had already moved on.

"What difference does it make? Everyone we know is dead either way"

Tanya understood. The biggest blow to Viktoriya was the loss of her bonds, like it would be to most humans. While this was very troublesome to Tanya, being back in her originating Japan instead of the Akitsushima Imperium, was an additional blow because of the material losses. But for Viktoriya, being legally dead and warped 70 years into the future meant all her friends were dead and that mattered to her more than any status the two of them could earn back as miraculously alive officers if it was their world.

The site of the crash was nearby. Tanya immediately noticed something wrong. There was crime scene tape. The others they put 500 meters away from the supply dump, in hopes someone would get them medical attention, were being photographed and clearly dead.

"The others are gone. We need to fly over the hill to the dump" said Tanya. Both mages took to flight.

"I can see they didn't see it over the hill yet. We need to move everything into a cave nearby" said Tanya. Viktoriya put aside her shock and started getting ready to work. "This is going to take some time"

Three hours later, many weapons, food, ammunition, uniform, and miscellaneous supplies were moved to a cave. Local investigators started moving in.

…

Aoyagi Mamoru was called in on the site of a mystery. A few bodies and some scattered crates appeared after a blue flash similar to the Lucky Star case. This was also not unlike the supposed sighting of Godzilla. What is known by the Ministry of Defense is that the US Navy lost 7 carriers in a short period of time, which was quietly confirmed by the American counterparts, as no government could hope to hide that forever. Godzilla was merely the rumor from a few drunken sailors who recanted the story, but it made great tabloid fodder. What troubled Mamoru was that the sailors described the same blue squares forming a portal and break in reality.

"How is the situation of the ones found?" said Mamoru.

"They died while getting medical treatment. The autopsy shows concussions are the problems. It's like they fell from some distance" said a medical officier.

He was with some local policemen and some from forensics. "What is the DNA of these bodies?" said Mamoru.

"CODIS primers and those used for DNA fingerprinting failed to come up with anything. Random primers resulted in PCR product. They have 23 chromosome pairs like us. Like the Lucky Star case, only 98.5% of regular human DNA is found in these. By normal genetic tree analysis, this group of bodies, the Lucky Star case, chimpanzees, and humans have diverged around the same time" said the analyst.

"Are you calling Konata a primate?" said Mamoru.

"Humans are primates. What's puzzling is that normally there is a higher degree of conservation among exon sequences and gene regulatory sequences such as promotors. More anomalies exist in places that don't code for proteins or regulate genes, the intergenic sequences. However in both this and the Lucky Star case, the protein sequences and the promotors don't significantly differ from the human genome consensus, in other words a complete conservation instead of simply a high degree. This includes genes like the Homeobox genes responsible for body plan, they are the same as the human genome project. The Lucky Star cast contains some differences in hair pigmentation genes, but the genes are otherwise not different than one would expect from a mixture of 75% ethnic Yamato with some Danish, English, Italian, and German thrown in. This is a bit lower than the general population being 99.70% Yamato, but the genes look normal, which is what one would expect from a strange primate that is anatomically, physiologically, and psychologically human. This might explain why one of the Lucky Star town members was able to produce a healthy five year old child with a normal human, and I would assume the same of the main cast"

"Why don't genetic tree analysis use only the coding sequences?" said Mamoru.

"Get a biology degree or wait until I have a three hour period to explain it to you Aoyagi-san" said the analyst.

Mamoru looked at some of the debris. He examined the uniform of one of the soldiers. There was a black double headed eagle. It looked similar to the Holy Roman Empire emblem, but instead of yellow and black, it was yellow, black, and red, as if another German state fused with the Hapsburg losers. The weapons of the soldiers were dated too.

"We found a building that's not supposed to be here! It's just over the hill" said someone. This was surprising, they only were told by the locals about some crates and people with concussions.

"It looks like there used to be more things, but they were taken away in a hurry" said Mamoru. His cell phone rang. It was Izumi Konata.

...

Author's Note: I'm taking a multi month haitus on this one so I can finish the ones I started earlier. I'll be back, don't worry.


End file.
